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Friday, May 20, 2005
Yeah a long time between posts, again. I have been puzzling over a lot of issues so it's more of "deep thoughts" by Jack Handy type of thing this time. So often as Christians we talk about giving things over to God or to lay our lives down and "pick up our cross, daily" as Jesus said to do. But when do things like that become reality instead of the proper thing to say? When do I move into a level of being able to really live those things out? I guess it's sort of like math...I can learn formulas and pass a test with them but still not understand them. Or I can learn formulas and pass the test but slowly begin to understand them as well. And when that happens, I do more that just get answers...I begin to really know something. When do we really begin to know God? Well somehow when these pat phrases that we have heard all our lives really begin to be more than just a phrase. The honest truth is I don't know what it means to lay my life down and carry my cross daily. And when I do suspect that I have something that should be laid down, I don't seem to know how to do it. So I will start with what I do know about that phrase---daily. Apparently God is telling me that there is something so critical to my life that it must be done daily. This laying down of life is a daily thing. That tells me something else. That whatever it means, it's a journey not a one time thing. It can't be done one time.....Of course I am not talking about salvation, I am talking about the laying down of my life and carry my cross. I suspect it means somehow putting something to death since that what the cross meant. And I suspect that since he says to lay down my life it means giving up something within me and allowing it to be taken to the cross. And the one thing I know is that it has to take place daily. I wish I could tell you I had learned what that meant. All I know is this about myself....I can be pretty selfish. And when I don't get what I want, I am pretty much ready to take my ball and go home and sulk. So I know that there are two things right there that need to die daily--my attitudes and selfishness. Carrying the cross for Jesus meant an expression of love, so maybe just maybe that's a part as well. Die to myself so that I can show love to others on a daily basis. The hardest part is that something within us makes us think that it will get easier each time. But I don't think so. I think each morning the journey up the hill carrying our crosses will take all that we have. But we have a savior who promised to help us with our burdens. And a savior who also carried those burdens. Overall that's pretty awesome. So maybe just maybe the whole idea of dieing daily and carrying our cross can start to mean something more than just the correct answer to a question. It can start to be what Jesus intended...The answer that is correct and is understood. |
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