Doves On Distant Oaks

The Walk of Life

Do you, or did you ever, have a burden to bear in your life? During the last years of her life, my ailing mother was left without anyone to help her. My father had died many years before, at which point my mother moved in to live with her sister. When my aunt died, my mother was left with no one.

It was at that point my wife and I built an in-law suite onto our house. We moved my mother in to live with us and my wife quit her job to work full time caring for her. It was a selfless act on her part, but well worth it. Sadly, she finally passed away and we both still miss her terribly.

It was interesting, though, people we knew would say to us, and especially to my wife, that my mother had been our cross to bear. My wife often said she rarely felt that way, though there were times of frustration, of course.

That term, "cross to bear," comes directly from the Bible, but it’s meaning has been twisted. We read in Luke:

Then He [Jesus] said to them all [his disciples], "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23)

The cross today is a cherished symbol by many Christians. We wear cross jewelry around our necks and tack crosses up on the walls of our houses. That is a far cry from the symbolism of the cross that Jesus was talking about.

The cross in Roman times was a symbol of shame, humiliation, and dishonor. Roman crucifixions were spectacles of violence and indignity. The person being crucified was made as vulnerable as possible—they were usually stripped naked—and beaten mercilessly before being crucified.

Like the Romans did to Jesus, anyone who was to be executed on the cross was forced to carry their cross through the streets. Carrying one’s cross in ancient times didn't just mean you would be carrying a burden. That was part of it, of course. What it really meant was that you were headed to your death, and that death would be in the most horrifying and disgraceful way possible.

When Jesus said to take up their cross, his disciples knew exactly what He meant. It was a statement of self-sacrifice and self-denial—dying to yourself and the world in order to live for Christ. It meant to totally surrender one’s life to Christ and become obedient to His teachings, not just now and then, but on a daily basis.

It certainly didn’t mean you were going to get to live your best life now—just the opposite. It meant that your wants and desires were to be set aside. Taking up your cross means a total commitment to Christ, including the possibility of alienation from your family or loosing friends, your reputation, your job, and even your life.

But those are only the trappings of this world. Jesus followed up his statement with …

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? (Luke 9:24-25)

We have a better life waiting for us on the other side of death. That is our best life, and it's for eternity. But we don’t get to live it by spurning the life of self-denial and self-discipline now. Certainly carrying a burden like caring for an invalid is a noble thing to do, but its far more important to carry the cross of Christ and follow Him.

The way of the Cross and the way of the world are two mutually exclusive things. You must choose one or the other. But the most important thing to remember about taking up your cross is this: Jesus is there to help you carry it.

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

– Galatians 6:14

Keywords: Self-denial, Self-discipline, Self-sacrifice

Comment publicly to Writing.com community below,
or comment privately to: [e-mail]