Double Crossed

If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves,
and take up their cross and follow me.        
Mark 8:34

Jesus’ charge that we be cross-bearers was from this last Sunday’s Gospel lesson, so I trust it is still fresh in your mind. And today, September 14, also happens to be Holy Cross Day. 

So we are sort of surrounded by crosses as we cross through the middle of September.

I mentioned in my sermon on Sunday that I think this idea of “taking up the cross” and “denying oneself” is perhaps the most challenging teaching of all of our Lord’s teachings.

Selflessness almost always seems to go against the grain of what we are normally taught. For example, many people tell us things like:
           

        If you don’t take care of yourself, how can you take care of anyone else?

        When you say “yes” to others, make sure you are not saying “no” to yourself.

        Self-care is giving the world the “best” of you, not the “rest” of you.
 

And yet, Christ calls us to spend ourselves. He calls us to lose ourselves. Sometimes that means when we serve it will be burdensome, and irritating, and even draining.

But Christ also says that those who lose their life, for his sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it. Not a bad exchange.

In the Cross of Christ,

Pastor John D. Morris