Then Jesus said to his
disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take
up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew
16:24
This verse is quoted all the
time it seems like. “Take up your cross” is the message so often received but
how about the message “embrace your cross”? An image comes to mind of a follower
of Christ embracing, hugging, a cross
in humble obedience. Someone not just “taking up their cross” which could imply
any amount of dragging it or shuffling of their feet, but actually meeting the
very thing that is a symbol of suffering and death with a tender willingness
saying “I choose this.”
I know that I forget that
suffering is at the heart of the Christian ministry. In fact, I often find
myself being surprised by suffering making an appearance in my own life. I
thank God that these past two weeks he has been teaching me all about how,
contrary to what I believe, the life of a follower of Jesus is designed for
suffering in the most beautiful way.
“Death
is at work in us” 2 Corinthians 4:12
When the Apostle Paul spoke
these words, I can only imagine the grace he had experienced at the hands of
God. He had experienced redemption through the blood of Jesus, the glory of
personally encountering God, the sweetness of a life brought out of darkness
into marvelous light, and the faithfulness of God in seemingly impossible
situations. This is a man who knows a thing or two about being obedient when
the Lord calls, even if that obedience means walking head on into suffering.
As I
look at the suffering nature of Paul’s ministry, I’m confronted with how
undeniably glorious God is. And I think that’s exactly the point God is trying
to get across in 2 Corinthians 4:5-7.
“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as
Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let
light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we
have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is
from God and not from us.”
When we suffer, God gets the
glory. As it says in verse 7: as we suffer, we are merely vessels on display
showing that there is someone far greater at work in us. As it said in 2
Corinthians 4:12 how “Death is at work in us”, I believe that suffering is
absolutely necessary to help us die to self and rise with Christ.
Suffering quite justly
magnifies the greatness of the lord. We have what a friend of mine likes to
refer to as mountain top seasons and the valleys of our lives. How could the
mountain tops seem so glorious without the valleys? They just can’t. If life
were all mountain tops, those glorious moments would seem far less grand and
those mountains a lot more like sidewalks.
“But
rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and
be glad when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:13
In order to experience the
fullness of Christ, we become partakers in His suffering as well as His glory.
I often forget the calling we accept once we become Christians to die to
ourselves and grow in holiness is accomplished through suffering. Suffering
sounds scary, but how beautiful is it that while in the midst of our suffering,
we know that it is literally making us more like our savior?
With that mindset, I
understand better why Paul counted all as loss and chose suffering time and
time again. If the point of our lives and the cry of our hearts is to know
Jesus, I pray that we would stop at nothing to accomplish that. Lord, help us
to “count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
Jesus our Lord. For his sake we have suffered the loss of all things and count them
as rubbish, in order that we may gain Christ!” Philippians 3:8
“And
after you have suffered a LITTLE while, the God of all grace, who has called
you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen,
and establish you.” 1 Peter 5:10
