Following In His Steps - Part 3

Luke 9:23 (Phillips NT)
23  Then he spoke to them all. "If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, carry his cross every day and keep close behind me.

What does it mean to carry your cross everyday? Plain and simply for Jesus it meant suffering and death. At the very least taking up our cross means a willingness to suffer for His sake. That could mean dying to reputation, dying to earthly comforts, dying to a secure retirement and dying to personal ambition among other things. It can mean dying to the American dream. In extreme cases it can mean enduring torture and martyrdom.

Taking up our cross means a willingness to do these things every single day. Paul wrote that he had learned to be content in all circumstances. He wrote he knew how to abound and to suffer from lack. He knew what it meant to suffer from hunger, cold from the elements, loss of freedom in prison and torturous beatings.

In the United States there is little fear of Christians getting beat for their faith so far. That very well could change in the future. Christians are harassed. They are belittled and intimidated. In other parts of the world Christians suffer unimaginably. Taking up their cross means for them beatings, imprisonment, having gasoline thrown on them and then set on fire, having toe nails and fingernails ripped out, having their feet beaten and martyrdom. That is a reality for followers of Jesus in Syria, North Korea, Iran, China, Sudan and many other hostile countries in modern times.

In America people decorate their homes with crosses. They hang crosses from their rearview mirror in their vehicle. They wear crosses around their neck. They do lots of things but don't take up their cross daily. How many are willing to suffer for Jesus in building His kingdom? How many are wiling to risk looking a fool in order to obey Him? How many are willing to take the name of Jesus to the hard places on planet earth? How many are willing to risk everything for Jesus, even their very own lives? How many are willing to wear the harness of hardship in the name of Jesus?

I praise God there are many around the world doing this every single day. While in America, we sit at ease in Zion, many around the world serve Jesus at their own peril. Serving Him costs them something and they rejoice in their sufferings for the One who died and suffered for them on a cross. Their stories can be read in Fox's Book Of Martyrs and Voice Of The Martyrs. Such sufferers include Richard Wurmbrandt, Polycarp, Watchman Nee, Jim Elliott, Nate Saint and William Tyndale.

There were many of the apostles and nameless followers of Jesus we never hear about daily. they suffer and they die. Such brave soldiers of the cross own Bibles in hostile and restricted nations. If those Bibles are discovered they will be tortured for their faith and possibly murdered.

This is sobering. The cross has become a symbol of good luck for people nothing more than a good luck charm. The cross is so much more. It is the symbol of our salvation. It is a call to suffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew about suffering. Imprisoned and tortured he remained true to his fatih. Read what he wrote. “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

I can think of no better description of what it means to take up the cross daily.