Taking Up Your Cross Today

 July 15, 2024

Monday

I just did some maintenance on my wife's car. I changed the oil and oil filter. I restored the headlights by cleaning the oxidation from the outer surface. I changed out the cabin air filter and checked the other fluids in the car. To top it off, I vacuumed the car thoroughly. Yes, I know I could have taken this where someone would have done all of this for a fee. I promise that I saved quite a bit of money for I put the best of all these things in the car and I know that it was done right. There is satisfaction in knowing that a good job has been done.

The car would have run without this maintenance. Sure, the engine light would have come on soon to remind me that the oil needed to be changed. I could have turned that off and kept on truckin'. Eventually, the lack of maintenance would have left us on the side of the road. The cost would have been much more than a few quarts of oil, filters and some fluid top offs.

That brings me to why I write this blog daily. I certainly don't do it to prove anything theological or thoroughly answer biblical questions. If you have read it, you know that by now. I do so because I and you must do some maintenance every day or we will eventually be stuck on the side of the road with no AAA to call. Each day requires a reset.

My wife worked in a lab years ago. Each morning she would run tests manually to make sure that the million dollar machines who ran these test automatically were working properly. If not, the machines needed an adjustment. Again, each day we will need an adjustment if we are to continue walking closely with our Lord.

Jesus told us: 

Luke 9:23 (NASB 2020) ²³ And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Do you think that Jesus told us that this should be done daily for no reason? No, He knew we needed to make this adjustment every day. He knew that the commitment would slip away if we simply took up our crosses on Sundays. If we want to keep walking with Him we must take up our crosses daily.

So, I die to myself and want to help others do the same. The most fulfilling life we can live is not a life lived selfishly. It is denying self.

And, being very honest, I must make this adjustment daily.