Then Jesus told his disciples,
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24
A 17-year-old girl had been left to raise her family and take care of the home early in life because her single mother had died after a long battle with cancer. Not only did she clean house, prepare meals, and care for her two younger siblings, but she was also known by her neighbors as a kind, caring young woman who was always helpful and checked in on them. Even though she was in great need, she never complained and always looked for extra ways to serve others in her community.
Most unfortunately, she was also diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. While hospitalized, she received a visit from a woman from the local church who asked her if she had ever been confirmed or baptized. To each direct, curt question, the girl quietly answered, “No.” The woman smugly inquired, “What are you going to say to God when you have to tell Him that?”
The saintly young girl weakly raised her arms and said, “I will show Him my hands”—work-stained, honorable hands.
This young girl had taken up the cross, and every cross of ours is a part of the cross of Christ. At the center of Christianity is humble service, shoulder to shoulder with Jesus. Paul wrote, “That I might know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings.” To Paul, this meant striving for and against the same things as Christ. It meant expending energy, praying as if all depended on God, but working as if all depended on Paul. To this end, he writes that he would fill up that which was lacking in the afflictions of Christ.
When Lincoln was asked by friends whether he thought God was on his side, he replied, “I don’t much trouble about that, but I am concerned that I am on God’s side.” A life concerned only with self is starved. But a life of service is a life truly lived—a life following the way of the cross.
God bless you, today.
~James