Step Two: Taking Up Your Cross Daily - a.k.a "Embracing Defeat"

To conclude my previous post on Luke 9:23 I included the following quote by G. K. Chesterton.

“The cross cannot be defeated for it is defeat.”

This is where I will begin today’s entry. Considering I have already tackled one aspect, the most recognized one, of taking up the cross in my previous post on denying self, I am going to explore a possible application that I have not seen addressed as of yet. So, with this quote from Chesterton in mind let’s consider what it could mean to take up our cross daily.

Remember, these are my thoughts on a possible implication of this passage, so be as the noble-minded Bereans and let this stir you to study the Word.

Jesus calls us to first deny ourselves, as we covered here. Next He bids us to take up our cross daily. What He is essentially calling us to do, among other things (for which there are volumes of books already collecting dust on the shelves of our minds), is to bear the full weight of our own defeat - every day. But it’s not a bad defeat; not at all. This defeat is, however, truly an acknowledgement that we are helpless. In truth, the world, namely sin, has defeated us. Paul explains this to us in Ephesians 2:1 when he says that we are all dead in trespasses and sins. Incidentally, what he spends the first three chapters of his letter to the Romans telling us is this: In our own power we utterly lack any ability to overcome the world, to overcome our innate sinful nature, or to overcome our daily propensity to sin against the God who gives us life.

And with this knowledge we embrace our defeat; we hoist it onto our shoulder and carry it to the Cross that is firmly planted precisely in the dividing point of history. We then lay it down there at the feet of Christ. That’s as far as we must carry it, for He has promised us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And once we have brought it to Him He promises to carry it the rest of the way.

And indeed He has; for although He rose victorious that first resurrection Sunday, Friday He was defeated.

No, defeated isn’t the proper term.

He surrendered.

He bore the full weight of defeat, my defeat, your defeat, but He did it willingly. And there, on that cross, He was crushed as the Father poured out all of His fiery wrath against all sin, for all time, upon His beloved Son.

I have strayed from the subject at hand, my apologies. Just remember that what Christ did willingly was to accept that defeat, the wages of sin, so that we would not have to. And what took Him roughly six hours to accomplish would take billions of humans an eternity.

See, He is so valuable that a few hours of His time is worth infinitely more than an eternity of mine and yours. This is because He is infinitely valuable.

Isn’t it humbling to the core that an infinitely valuable Being would sacrifice Himself for such insignificant wretches, whose natural inclination is to rebel against the very One who gives them life and breath, not to mention the possibility of eternal life?

So today, take up that cross my friend, and take it straight to Calvary. Leave it there and go serve God out of gratitude, not obligation. See that your joy is not the result of doing this or that, or refraining from that other thing, but that it is derived solely from the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Because there, He defeated your defeat.

Step One: Denying Self - a.k.a. "Set a Course for the Cross"

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after (go with) me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23

I'll talk about denial in this post, and if all goes as planned I'll tackle taking up our cross and following Him in subsequent posts.

Jesus would end up resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. That was inevitable for sure, but that was to be the outcome of His obedience; obedience even unto death on the cross.

For His destination, as He stood and wept looking over Jerusalem, knowing that the vast majority of those dwelling in that city would reject Him; as He rode into that same city, presenting Himself as the King of Israel to the joyful shouts of "Hosanna" by many of the same people who would, only five days later, spit at him and blaspheme His Name (as He bore their sins); as He ate His final supper with His disciples, instituting a new covenant and a new meaning for those ancient toasts; as He passed through the Garden of Gethsemane, praying and sweating drops of blood... yes, His destination was most definitely the cross.

He knew, and we know, that Calvary was where it would all end. Though, as ends go, it was most assuredly not the most final of ends. No, not for Him, but for what else died with Him on that cruel tree.

Sin.

Which brings us to Luke 9:23.

Those of us who desire to go with Him to be where He is are to, 1) deny ourselves, 2) take up our cross daily, and 3) follow Him.

See, from the moment of His conception by the Spirit, and really from eternity past, He was only going one place. And that is where He calls us to go.

To deny ourselves is essentially to place His will and His desires for us above our own will and our own desires. Or, to put it another way, to replace our will and desires with His. This denial begins with our initial repentance as we are born into the Faith and continues until we breath or last. Paul describes this denial well in Romans 12:1-2.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Just as Jesus presented Himself willingly, denying His will to live, His will to bypass the cross if it was at all possible, we must also willingly present ourselves as a sacrifice for Him who sacrificed Himself for us.

But unlike Christ we are generally called to be living sacrifices. See, He doesn't call us to lay down on the altar and slash our throats, nor does He beckon us to nail ourselves to a cross and die there. He calls us to willingly and daily strap ourselves to the horns of His altar and let His holy fire burn away our iniquity, just as it would with the substitutionary lamb within the old covenant. And as we are well aware, it doesn't feel good.

It doesn't feel good because fire, by its very nature burns. But, fire has another function.

Fire purifies.

And that is where we end today. I pray that today you and I both will deny ourselves, as we allow Him to purify us, however uncomfortable it is. It is not only our reasonable service of worship because it is His will that we do so. It is also for our good, because He cares for us.

"The Cross cannot be defeated for it is defeat."
-G.K. Chesterton