Taking Up Your Cross

We read in Matthew 16:24, “ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” For many Lent means giving up something that we like for the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday. For myself it is a time to reflect about the events of the life of Christ and at the same time take a good look at my own personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Lent should be a time that we do more than give up something. It would be a good time to improve some area of our Christian life. Jesus never meant that we had to give up normal comforts and endure self-inflicted pain to overcome sin or gain favor with God. There is no special merit in giving up something for the sake of just giving it up. 

Paul addresses this issue in Colossians 2:20-23. “If you die with Christ to the principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

To simply out it, Paul is saying that self-inflicted punishment or pain does not really get to the heart of the sin problem in the lives of people. These are external works. What really needs to happen is for a change to take place on the inside. Outside things are something we wear that does not really affect the inner person. Jesus did not mean self-inflicted punishment when He spoke of denying self. He doesn’t want us to suffer but He does expect us to put Him first in everything. Nothing is to occupy such a place in our lives that it prevents us from giving our Lord and Savior the love, honor, obedience, and service He alone deserves.

Is Jesus Christ the top priority in your life? This needs to be considered during the Lenten Season. Luke 9:23 says essentially the same things as Matthew 16:24 but he adds the word daily. We read, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” 

To deny oneself means to obliterate self as the dominant principal of life and make God truly number one. This is what Christ meant by denying self. During this Lenten Season, let us do more than give up something. Let us take serious what it means to deny self and take up one’s cross and follow Jesus. Lent points the way towards Easter Sunday and the glorious event called the Resurrection. Let us prepare for this wonderful event by growing in our Christian walk with Jesus Christ. 

Pastor Ralph

Preparing for Easter

Since the early centuries the Church has suggested three things that we undertake during Lent, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It is for this reason that the Gospel text for Ash Wednesday every year is Jesus’ advice on prayer, fasting and almsgiving (Matt 6:1-6, 16-18). During Lent we want to pray more, fast and help the poor.

Lent is a time for more prayer. We live busy lives and there is much emphasis on enjoying life but a life without prayer is a life without the joy of the presence of God. If we do not pray we are not Christians at full potential; we are only walking when we could be running. Martha was busy serving when Jesus came but Mary spent time with him and Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42) Lent is not only about helping others and doing something, it is also about the type of person that we are. We pray because all goodness comes from God and when we pray we touch God. God is our loving Father who greatly desires us to allow him to be close to us. So we need to pray more during this Lenten season so that we may experience more of the joy of the Lord.

In the past the church put more emphasis on prayer and fasting. From a spiritual point of view, fasting symbolizes our dependence on God. It expresses the fact that we really are trying to put God first in our life. The Bible tells us that fasting from food must go together with fasting from what we know is wrong. In other words, when we fast from food it is to be accompanied by a loving and forgiving attitude towards others. To fast this way is to please God by making an effort to forgive those who have hurt us and to not harbor resentment any longer? Why do we keep grudges? Is it because we like to be in control? To forgive, we also need to give up our need to be in control. If we have a problem forgiving someone, we can share it with the Lord and ask his help so that we may forgive. We do not want to live being dominated by past wounds. We need to live in the present, free of the past.

The word “Lent” is an old English word that means “springtime.” May this Lent really be a new springtime in the lives of each one of us. Through prayer, through fasting and by forgiving others and not bearing grudges, we can be like Jesus in the desert for forty days overcome temptation and be well prepared to celebrate Easter.

Pastor Ralph