"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."
I was watching a movie, "The Rookie" the other night and there is a scene in which the star who is an older man in late thirties seeks to try out for the major league. He has made it to the AAA league, which is one notch below the big leagues and he is questioning his decision to leave his family, wife and children, to pursue this childhood dream.
One night he goes off by himself to think it through. And he finds himself at a baseball field watching little leaguers play and enjoy the game. He has a strengthening in his ambition, a strengthening in his desire to continue.
The next day he walks into the dressing room and he is excited and pumped. He walks over to another AAA player and he poses a question followed by an answer. He ask him, "Do you know what we get to do today...we get to play baseball." He is grinning with such delight, he had rediscovered what it was all about and he was ready to live the dream.
Some days, we are like that. We re-discover what it is all about and we are ready to put it all on the line. Some days we are excited about our faith journey, pumped about following Jesus and allowing the power of the kingdom of God to be manifest in our life. We are ready to pick up our cross, deny ourself, and follow Jesus.
But some days we are not. Some days we want to leave it all behind, cross included, and walk away.
What do we do then?
Those are the days we let the cross carry us. This is the reality of the agony in the garden. Jesus prays and searches for the strength to continue forth. The cross carries Jesus long before He carries the cross.
His whole life is motivated by the cross; it is the cross that leads him to Jerusalem; it is the cross that leads him to the upper room; it is the cross that leads him to the garden; it is the cross that leads him to calvary, one step at a time; it is the cross that brings him glory.
The cross does the same for you and I.
Let the cross pick you up. Let the cross carry you. Let the cross shape you and bring you life.
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