The Cross

I'm finally back after several long, excruciating weeks of wrestling with our little development project. When I started down this path of trying to develop our property it was fun, mostly because it was new and exciting. But three years later, I'm spent. There's little joy left, just a general sense of dread. Of course I'm being a little dramatic but not terribly so. The details and the conflicts have worn me out. Yet, I still sense God is trying to teach me something through it all--that something, however, remains a mystery right now.

Regardless, I'm glad my mind is returning to Christ and his church. It's feels good to let my heart gravitate toward the things that give me joy.

So let's talk about the cross (yes, this does bring me joy). A few weeks ago, I preached a little sermon on the cross in which I asked the question, What is the cross? I defined the cross as the price we pay for obedience to Jesus and his way. The cross is not a bad back, an annoying mother-in-law, a noisy neighbor, a spiritual drought, depression, uncontrollable anxiety or even a bothersome church member. Rather, the cross is something we willingly take up, a sacrifice we make in a broken world, to follow Jesus in obedience.

The easiest way to think about this is to talk about some of our core practices. For instance, if you want to forgive, you must deny yourself and your desire for revenge, absorb much of the pain and free the perpetrator from your grip. This is free for the recipient but costly for the giver. The giver bore a cross in order to be obedient to Jesus and his way. Similarly, if you want to be generous, you must be shaped by a new way of thinking--you must recognize that we are members of one another. But to get there, you will have to deny yourself and the belief that my money is exactly that--my money!--and begin to loosen your grip in order to give. Such an action points to the cross, because you are willingly sacrificing for others.

I could go on and on. You get the point. To follow Jesus, you must take up a cross. As Bonhoeffer states, "A Christianity without the cross is a Christianity without Christ." And I might add, a discipleship without the cross is a discipleship without Christ. The cross stands before us all, calling us to come and die so that we might embrace the way of Jesus, becoming a fragrance of hope and love for a broken world.

Peace.