Suffering
In my walk with God, there is one major part of life that hinders me from fulfilling God's commands. The thing that hinders my walk with God is suffering. Not that I face suffering and that keeps me from growing closer to God, but that I do not face suffering, and that is what keeps me from growing closer to God. Over and over, God asks us to leave the easy lifestyle and walk the long and narrow road towards Him. I for one, have done a terrible job of traveling on the narrow road.
Jesus says in Matthew 10:38, "and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." Luke 9:23-26, "Then [Jesus] said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.'"
The echoeing phrase in both of those passages mentions taking your cross and following Jesus. I think we all know what "follow me" means, but what does it mean to take up your cross? The cross was a means of death, and to take up your cross meant to be obedient and dedicated to the point of death.
An interesting note regarding taking up your cross: When Jesus told this to His disciples, he had not yet been crucified on the cross. I can imagine that some of the people who heard this thought that he might have just been using hyperbole to emphasize the point of following Him. Imagine how much of an impact this statement must have made after Jesus died on the cross. He literally fulfilled his own command and set a perfect example. He was dedicated and obedient to His Father's will to the point of death, even death on a cross, a form of death usually reserved for thieves and criminals.
Coming back to othe main point, if God wants us to take up our cross and be completely obedient to Him, that is what we should do. Taking up our cross can mean hard times, suffering. When we take up our cross, we can't "partially take it up." We must bear the entire thing. Jesus was the perfect example of this, but there are some other great examples mentioned in the Bible.
The next entry will cover examples set by Stephen and Paul and will conclude this entry on "Suffering."