Take up your cross - right? Not what you think...

"Take up your cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24.  Have you ever heard someone say a  particular hardship was their cross to bear?  Arthritis - stomach trouble - not making ends meet - whatever hardship that seems to be persistently constant in their life.   Almost saying that God would want them to suffer that way.  Guess what?!?  That could not be further from the truth.

Here's the truth according to the Scriptures.

The Greek word for our phrase "take up" is airō which means to take upon one's self and carry what has been raised up. What has been raised up - what is that?  It is Jesus Christ's finished work on Calvary.  We take upon ourselves the finished work of Calvary. 

When we are facing sickness, we DO NOT take up the sickness as our "cross to bear".  We take up the finished work of Calvary by remembering Jesus took stripes for our healing.  [Isa. 53:5] When we experience a situation that threatens our peace, we take up His finished work and say, "Jesus was chastised for me to have peace." [Isa. 53:5].  When we come across something that "runs in our family", instead of just allowing it to climb up on our shoulders to settle in for a ride, we remember the finished work of Calvary that He wore a crown of thorns (thorns are a picture of the curse).  The curses fell on His head INSTEAD of our head. [Gal 3:13]

So take up the finished work of Calvary and "follow me".  Follow Jesus where?  What does He lead us in?

THE TRIUMPH!  His triumph!

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ."  [2 Cor 2:14]  The Greek word for triumph is thriambeuō  which means to triumph, to celebrate a triumph, cause one to triumph.  The only other place in the New Testament where this word is found in Col 2:15, "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

Our cross to bear IS Jesus' finished work on Calvary and we follow Him in His triumph over the kingdom of darkness.

Now with confidence and hope we take upon ourselves the finished work of Calvary and follow Jesus in His triumph over the kingdom of darkness.

Guest blog by Arin Rentz

                                                Pat and Arin enjoying lunch together!