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Jesus Command -Take Up Your Cross And Follow Meis Much More Than A Symbol Of The Difficulties, Frustrations
Jesus’ command - “Take up your cross and follow Me” is much more than a symbol of the difficulties, frustrations and pain we as humans experience in this life. Taking up one’ s cross and following Jesus is something completely different.
Because the cross was an instrument of death, Jesus is referring to our commitment to Him, even unto death, meaning that our obedience to the extreme measure and willingness to die is a vital part of truly being His disciple.
Death on a cross was extremely painful and humiliating, so as followers of Christ He expects us to likewise be willing to endure pain or humiliation for Him — no matter what the cost.
This word picture of 'taking up your cross' paints for us the concept of “death to self” which originates in another saying of Christ in Luke 9:24-25, “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” The truth is that NOTHING in this life is worth keeping if it means losing eternal life! Not a job, family, friends, or even your own identity. Discipleship at the core means DISCIPLINE — No Matter What The Cost — but the eternal reward is well worth the temporary pain.
Friend, taking up your cross to follow Christ simply means commitment and obedience to living a disciplined life of obedience to God even if it means giving up your worldly hopes, dreams, possessions - or even your very life if need be.
Christian, are you willing to Take Up That Cross?
God Bless Your Day Jesus Loves You NotesOnLife.org
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<CENTER> <H1><FONT COLOR=#613300>I Didn’t See<BR><I>THAT</I><BR>Coming!<BR><FONT SIZE=3><I>(But God Did)</I></FONT></FONT> </H1><B> “I look to you for protection and<BR> Hide beneath the shadow of your wings<BR> Until the danger passes by.” </B><BR><B><FONT COLOR=#647A28>Psalm 57:1</FONT> </B><BR></CENTER> <FONT FACE=arial SIZE=-1><P><IMG SRC=https://www.NotesOnLife.org/images/YDN-Images/RioCrosswalk.jpg WIDTH=275 ALT=RioCrosswalk HSPACE=8 VSPACE=8 ALIGN=right>Walking down and around Rio de Janeiro as a young man in the Navy was exciting!The beaches, city and weather were absolutely beautiful and it was easy to get distractedat so much to see. Glancing across a wide boulevard I saw the famous “Sugarloaf”mountain jutting up from the yacht harbor ahead and excitedly when the light turned green,I hurriedly stepped off the curb to cross the street to get a closer look. <P>No sooner than I did, the strong hand of my weightlifting Navy buddy snatched me by the collarand violently yanked me back off my feet as a little Fiat going about 60 miles an hour ran thelight and clipped the curb - my flailing shoe lightly brushing aside view mirror as the car raced by. <P>My friend 'Rack' scolded me saying, “They don’t obey traffic lights down here son!When no one’s coming they GO!” I certainly would have been killed if my shipmate had notliterally had my back. <P>I didn’t see the danger coming, and likewise in our lives God often delivers us fromdangers we never saw coming. As today’s verse tells us, he nestles us under the shadowof His wings until the danger passes by. <P>The key here friend is to have <I>HIM</I> 'Have Your Back' and the only way is if you stay close to God,because when you are close to Him in THIS life, then He will be close to you in the next life. <B><I><FONT COLOR=#613300><P>God Bless Your Day<BR>Jesus Loves You<BR></FONT></I></B> <P ALIGN=center><B>Read ALL 700+ previous “Your Daily Notes” <A HREF=https://www.notesonlife.org/archive>HERE</A></B> </P><IMG SRC=https://www.NotesOnLife.org/images/WE-CirclePic+Signature.png ALT=Pastor_Wayne_Picture>
Highway 50 across Nevada has been called “The Loneliest Road in America.” It crosses five valleys and mountain ranges between Utah and California and gives the illusion of roads that go off into the distance that will never end.
Life is like that too. When most people look into the future, they see a road of life that seems like it will never end, but when I drove across Highway 50 I discovered that the longest “infinite” road was only about 20 miles. Many people’s daily commutes are longer than that – hardly an unfathomable distance.
The point is that like the warning “Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear” in that what we PERCEIVE as being a long way away is quickly zooming up to us. While you may think that you have plenty of time in life - like traversing Highway 50 - your road is going to end much sooner than you see or think and when the road ends…then what?
Well it won’t be at a truck stop restaurant, resort hotel, or another mountain pass followed by another valley across another stretch of Route 50. The fact is that the great road trip of life will come to a dead end and there will be no turning back. The question you need to come to grips with is what will you do then and where will you be when your life road-trip is over?
The Bible says that “… people are destined to die…and after that to face judgment,” In life, we are all destined to come to the end of the road of life. Google maps doesn’t have the answer, but the Bible’s God Provisioning System does. It says that your path to heaven was paved 2,000 years ago on a Cross via a Crossroad located on Calvary. Jesus told us the answer when he said,
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24
When the road you are on ends, where will it take you?
God Bless Your Day Jesus Loves You
Years ago I knew a strong sister in Christ that had a simple but effective way to deal with problems she was going through.
On her kitchen bulletin board, she pinned up a small brown paper bag, and on it it simply said 'THE GOD BAG'
Curious I asked her “What’s that for?” and she said “Whenever I have a problem, I write it down on a piece of paper, throw it into THE GOD BAG and say to myself and to the Lord, 'OK Lord, that problem is yours! And I know you’ll provide a means or way to solve it!'”
As today’s scripture reminds us, we need to cast (i.e. place) all our cares upon the Lord, and not carry them alone because He indeed does care for us! While life can be really hard at times, the Bible says that Christ will stand by our side and help as we plow along the field of life (Matthew 11:29) as He also said:
“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34
Friend, when you need assistance, don’t go it alone. Cast your problem into THE GOD BAG!
God Bless Your Day
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A well know Irish limerick claims there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Although we all know that prize isn’t there, regardless many people are following a rainbow they believe leads to their prize of a fulfilled life.
While God has given us all free will and even our founding documents promise us the freedom to pursue “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” what we think is our 'Best Life Now' may instead not be the happy conclusion hoped for.
This is where life gets tricky, because when we set our affections on earthly desires to guide us along our fanciful rainbows, we miss the greatest blessings that could be ours if only we knew the right path to follow. Instead Colossians 3:2 says that when we “Set (our) affection on things above, not on things on the earth” that the His promise of the PRIZE is eternal life in heaven.
Jesus said “STRAIGHT is the gate, and NARROW is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it.” and this road is not the wide, easy road that the majority of people parade along gleefully hand in hand, but instead is a path that requires us instead to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)
Friend, the “Prize” at the end of God’s heavenly rainbow is ETERNAL LIFE.
What rainbow are you following?
God Bless Your Day Jesus Loves You NotesOnLife.org
This title and the accompanying scripture describe two different kinds of people.
For those that live by their own perceptions of existence, there is no second thought of life and living. Without the oversight of an angry, vengeful, eternal or perhaps ethereal being judging or condemning your life, there certainly is a freedom to live life with abandon. With no fear of an end-time accounting, consequences of the triumphs or tragedies of life are irrelevant.
For Christians that do believe in a God, the perspective of life, living, and eternity is quite different -- not because they live under the auspices of an evil task-master god, but because they believe in God’s loving promise of a hopeful and glorious future. However as today’s scripture so pointedly states, if in fact there is no god and the hope that the bible promises is simply a fantasy, then all these high principles of living, service and love for others above themselves is not only pointless, but winds up being a miserable waste of the short time that could have been enjoyed in a life.
Depending on your view of life and death in either case, YOU’D BETTER BE RIGHT because the end result will be exactly as you imagined. The difference for the Christian though is H.O.P.E. of a Heaven Of Peaceful Eternity.
Depending on what you believe, you better be right.
So what exactly do YOU believe?
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