Pick up your cross

Scripture: 

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:31-38

Devotional:

Back when I was 18 years old, I had Mark 8:34 tattooed onto my left arm. It was a verse that fit, and fit my budget at the time. So many people told e me that  they loved my tattoo and they love that I am a Christian etc etc.  I have a confession to make, at that time I really wasn't living a life by the cross. I wasn't off doing anything crazy, I just simply was living my own life and didn't put much effort into being a part of what God was doing around me. Some of it was me being selfish , some of it was me being scared of what picking up my cross and walking the life God has called me to would be like. 

Fast forward to that following summer, I get in a car wreck and decide to use my time that summer to take a break from work and do a summer internship at the church . During my  time at the internship we took part in something called Treasure Hunting. It was simple, we meet, we pray , we ask God to reveal to us who he wants us to reach today. We would then begin to write down the things that came into our head onto paper under categories like, place, appearance, ailments etc. The very first time we did this, I had on my paper, short blond hair, glasses, yellow tank top, army cargo shorts, cancer, burger king. And off we went in search for the treasure that God has us seeking. Our first stop was burger king, As I walked through the doors of that restaurant I see a kid sitting with his dad. This kid is wearing Glasses, a yellow tank top, army cargo shorts and he looks unwell. My Stomach dropped , the reality set in that I have asked God to show me someone he wants to reach and he answered. As I walked over to their table my mind and body screamed “ you fool! Turn back now and you will save yourself the embarrassment “ . I began to battle with my own understanding of what was about to happen that I almost gave up sharing Jesus with someone. Thankfully I stood strong and approached the father and his son and explained who we were and that God wanted to let them know hes listening. We offered to pray and went on our way. I have more stories like this , but this is one that sticks in my mind regularly.

I feel like I live my life similarly to Peter in this scripture. I hear God say one thing and he  let my own understanding take over and I try to handle it based on what I can see and feel. Peter had seen Jesus perform many miracles , yet he let his human minded thinking cloud his mind on what the kingdom of Heaven was doing. And we see Jesus call him back in line. 

This verse that I have on my arm. Mark 8:34, the rest of this scripture. Had I not been obedient to God that summer afternoon, I could have missed out on moving in what God was doing, and there have been times where I had missed out because I was too scared to move where God was moving. Peter was too afraid to see Jesus suffer that he would rather interfere with Gods plans. 

Here is where we need to understand what it means to pick up our cross. The cross symbolises death, we need to understand that walking in the kingdom requires a daily choice to say God, I am going to follow your will even if I don't understand it, even if it scares me. Because I believe that you know better . That decision requires us to allow the word of God to shape who we are, to not be bound by what our human mind can imagine and be prepared to be a part of what is possible in the Kingdom.

For a while now, each day I wake up, I genuinely thank God for yesterday and for getting me up today. And I ask what he wants me to do today. A simple thing, yes, but I don't want to spend my life wondering how I am going to get from here to there when I could be wondering where God is bringing me today. 

I would like to encourage you to wake up tomorrow, make the choice to spend time in the word and ask God what do you want me to do today lord? Who do you want me to reach? Thank him for today and be prepared for what he has coming.

Prayer: 

Heavenly father I thank you for each person reading this, I pray that you work in them to help break down their understanding of whats going on in life and show them just what it means to carry their cross and walk in the kingdom.