Take the cross
Then He said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 9:23
Take up the your cross and follow me, what does it mean? In order to understand this, we must know what is the cross, what happened in the cross, what did Jesus do in the cross. Lent is the best time to reflect upon the cross, which is vital to christian faith.
So what is in the cross? what happened there? Well the answer is in Matthew 8:17 where it says on the cross Jesus hung and took our punishment, our infirmities and our diseases.
On the cross Jesus took upon Himself the consequences of our sin.
The word infirmity means, imperfection, weakness, illness, immoral, distress, calamity. So he took our infirmities, means Jesus took our weakness, imperfection, distress, calamity upon Himself, so that we might become strong, moral, stress free, safe, protected, perfect without sin.
Every day we carry these guilty, shame, feel weak and imperfect and mentally and physically worn out from the struggles we face.
Jesus is saying in the verse today do not carry those, give up such ways, I have taken it away from you, instead carry the cross that I have given to you, which is sinless and perfect.
Jesus does not want to you follow Him as a sinner, as a sick person, but rather as a righteous, perfect person because of what Jesus did.
Carry your cross which is free from infirmities and disease. You are set free. When you do so you are truly delivered.
So what is in the cross? what happened there? Well the answer is in Matthew 8:17 where it says on the cross Jesus hung and took our punishment, our infirmities and our diseases.
On the cross Jesus took upon Himself the consequences of our sin.
The word infirmity means, imperfection, weakness, illness, immoral, distress, calamity. So he took our infirmities, means Jesus took our weakness, imperfection, distress, calamity upon Himself, so that we might become strong, moral, stress free, safe, protected, perfect without sin.
Every day we carry these guilty, shame, feel weak and imperfect and mentally and physically worn out from the struggles we face.
Jesus is saying in the verse today do not carry those, give up such ways, I have taken it away from you, instead carry the cross that I have given to you, which is sinless and perfect.
Jesus does not want to you follow Him as a sinner, as a sick person, but rather as a righteous, perfect person because of what Jesus did.
Carry your cross which is free from infirmities and disease. You are set free. When you do so you are truly delivered.