Coming to the Cross Each and Every Day

[Jesus said]"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'" ~ Mark 8:34

Everyday we make choices that are too numerable to count.

Do we not roll out of bed in the morning? Choose an outfit to wear? What we will eat? What we will do with every aspect of our day?

The choices we make can be small and tedious as some of these are, but others can be major. When we choose to believe in Jesus Christ, the person who was sent by God, creator of our bodies and minds and this whole vast beautiful universe, we have to daily choose if we will follow him.

Don't try this, but imagine not praying to him every morning that you will allow him to lead and have power in your life. He has it either way, but really what we need to do is be communed in him that we may live for him, particularly by his holy spirit's leading that he has given us.

So you may say, "what, I'm a Christian, and I try to do what God wants me to do everyday." That's great, I know, because I have the same mantra. Thing is though, daily choosing to come to the cross (the death and resurrection) of Jesus Christ means that not only are our sins forgiven, but we are at peace with God. We have no merits to earn with him. We only have to rest in his grace. And truth be told, that leaves anyone more at peace.

In the day of the Apostle Paul when new Christians were still finding themselves obey the law, Paul had something to say to them:

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

¹⁷ But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. ¹⁹ For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. ²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

 

We can try to strive to live for Christ. Be a good Christian. Do all the good deeds. But none of that matters to God who looks at a person's heart.

 

Do you want to know why there are people who call themselves Christians out there who barely show evidence of it? This maybe why. Their heart has not changed in Christ. They don't go to the cross daily to rest in grace; instead they are resting on good works.

 

Do NOT get me wrong. I think have been that Christian at times that has either looked really good on the outside just to be really ugly on the inside or has just blatantly not come to the cross daily because I strive to live righteously, not like God. Maybe that is the root of the problem for a lot of us Christians. We try to be like God instead of letting him be God. Because if we were not trying, we would not be doing good works to pay for our sins. We would trust that God had taken care of that through Jesus Christ.

 

Maybe today we need to go to the cross and ask for grace. Maybe even forgiveness for doubting him and his gift of salvation only through Christ. Maybe we should also do this tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that, and so forth. I never recognized how self righteous I am before God's grace was so emphasized in my life over and over again, and then reading Galatians has been a real eye opener to this problem in my heart. I praise God that he has had mercy on me. When it comes down to it, I don't feel like I deserve it.

 

I want to  leave you by telling you he offers grace for every sin. He forgives. He loves more than any human can (therefore we do not fully comprehend it), and he wants you to comes to him each day and carry the cross he has borne already. He will be there with you.

 

Go to the cross, and see how much our God is rich in mercy and help.