Suffering as a Cause to Stand
“ Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Mark 8:34
The cross is an instrument of death that often conjures up feelings of fear, sadness, and heartache. We think of the cross in terms of our own suffering, difficult times, and persecutions. But what if we looked at the cross from a different perspective? What if we looked at the cross as establishing who we are in Christ, giving us a cause to stand?
Imagine your cross. Hold it in your hands. What if you looked at it and thought,
This will force me to be brave. This will force me to be mindful of God. This will give me the greatest courage.
It’s all about perspective.
Sometimes the thing that makes us suffer is the very same thing that draws us closer to God.
And when we see our sufferings through God’s eyes and not our own, we can lift up our cross to Him and offer it for Him, not drag it behind us like a heavy weight ready to take us down.
We lift high the cross for people to see our sufferings and know that they are not alone in theirs. We carry the cross for others when theirs gets to heavy to bear. We show people that our crosses do not kill us but in fact resurrect us, make us something that we were not capable of becoming on our own.
If we wear that same cross around our necks, we are already telling people that we are ready to stand up, bear persecution and endure hardship on behalf of our God.
Today, I want you to take whatever you are suffering in the palm of your hands and hold it. Lift it up high to the Father and ask Him to give you the strength to bear it, to send you people that will help you hold it up, and to make it something that will lead others to Him.
Though a wheelbarrow may be required due to the sheer size and number of crosses some of us must carry, the palms up reference is certainly more appropriate. Nice job.