I’m sitting in Whole Foods in the midst of a Sunday afternoon insanity, yet I am thriving in this tranquility. A little girl just walked past me and was dressed up head to toe as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast”. ADORABLE! I watched her walk around in “la la land” while her mom dashed to and fro across the store. She walked past me on her way out the door and waved her magic wand over a box of sweets. She paused. Waved it again. Then, as only one in make believe world can do, she “bopped” the box with the magic wand. At this moment, the girl’s mother, several feet ahead of her had reached the exit door and called for her. Her perplexed face didn’t stop her from obeying her mom, so slowly she deserted the box of gummy stars and left the store.

3. The Cross of Jesus Christ is Not Convenient.

Jesus walked down a narrow way with His cross and led a life of a narrow way. When I was walking in the desert in the country of Jordan a few years ago, I was coming up from the wilderness where John the Baptist had baptized Jesus. All of a sudden the road narrowed and I heard The Lord speak to me that as I identified with Jesus’ death and resurrection (symbolic by baptism) that I would have to also walk the narrow way. The way of the cross is not convenient and it tells us to love and bless those who curse us and spitefully use us…OUCH! The way of the cross tells us to forgive those who have hurt or sinned against us…double OUCH!! The way of the cross has us keep our mouths shut when we would like to tell someone what we really think. The way of the cross can cause much hurt, judgement and misunderstanding, but it’s the only way to find true life.

A narrow road doesn’t call for much excess baggage. When we embrace our cross, there is no room for Jesus, us AND all of our offenses and issues. As we embrace our cross, it strips off the excess areas of our lives. As we yield to their deaths, we proceed down the path Jesus walked. This way calls us to be aware of His leadership in every step, to rely on Christ and leave our sinful patterns and behaviors behind to become like Him. It’s not as convenient as a Keurig coffee machine or a microwaved snack ;-) which we all enjoy, but it’s worth the journey. As you embrace the this way, be aware that you will be “cross-examined” in every area of your life.

On another route, a wide convenient road allows for many travelers to go wherever, whenever and however they want. It allows for however much excess baggage you want. Everyone can access it easily and there are no restraints. Because it’s wide and accessible, you don’t have to be as cautious. You can be whoever you want to be irregardless of the effects it may have on someone else.This makes for it being very appealing. The way of the cross, or the narrow way, is one in the shadow of Christ. This way may even acknowledge that Jesus was a “good man” or a “prophet”. However, to acknowledge the cross would ultimately place an accountability to the Lordship of Christ and that’s where the way of convenience has no tolerance. Jesus was either a liar or He was the Son of God. He was either a mad man or God’s perfect Messiah. There is no in between in this matter.

Before Jesus came and died on the cross, there were those who longed for and cried out for the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior to come to them. With urgency and dedication in their hearts, they prayed that God would send His son to fulfill the prophesies they believed in so that they could be reconciled unto the Father. There were hundreds of prophesies that foretold Jesus’ life and death and He is the only man who ever fulfilled them all! What a faithful promise, the Beloved Son came and took up a cross for us! It’s not convenient to follow the ways of Jesus, but just as He fulfilled promises by way of the cross, He’ll continue to be faithful in our lives as we embrace our cross.

Once the weights of sin and distractions of this world, our baggage, come off, we can find ourselves following the way of the cross, not because it’s cute, relevant or convenient, but because it brings everlasting life. It’s a daily act and one we are all sure to come up short in, but as we take up our cross, we are carrying perfect love. I pray you’d find love at that cross beam and that you’d hear the narrow way and may you never see the cross as something to take for granted.

(Scroll down for parts 1&2)

Scriptures to Review:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew 16:24-28 NKJV)

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13, 14 NKJV)

2. The Cross of Jesus Christ is Not Culturally Relevant

While this portion may be obvious to some, I feel as though it can’t be overstated. While the cross is relevant to all people in all cultures, the cross confronts culture, it does not conform to culture. It is a culture of it’s own that points to a freedom of living rightly before God. A place of joy, peace, and forgiveness that is unattainable by any other source. The culture says there are many ways to life, the cross says there is only one way to life.The culture says do whatever brings you pleasure, the cross says live your life for the pleasures of Heaven.

The cross stands and reminds us of our sin and our short comings. It forces a dependency on Christ and His redemption to make us right with the Father. As I write these words, I feel the weight of how harsh they may come across to some, but I write these words knowing that the heartbeat of the cross IS love. At the center of the crossbeams was the HEART of Christ. He loves all and died for everyone. In my life I’ve never regretted leaving the way of the culture by laying aside my sin or selfish ambitions. As I’ve allowed room for the cross in my life, I’ve crucified the ugliness in my heart that makes me hurt myself and others and live only for me. I’m not perfect, but I welcome the confrontation of His perfect love to my soulish desires to make me more like Him.

It isn’t “cool” to take up your cross. It’s not a fad that can come and go or a popularity status. It is also not a weapon to wield around to inflict pain on others because you believe you carry a cross. The true cross, the cross of Christ does not wound others because He was wounded for us. It will however call you to lose your life and find it in Him and conform to the culture of Heaven.

The vertical and horizontal beams of the cross are heaven’s + (plus sign) to us. It shows that there is only life that can be added from death on the cross. Just as Jesus willingly gave His life and won victory over sin and death, so can we. I may lose something like a lying tongue at the cross, but I receive freedom to produce a reputation of integrity. God’s intention in losing your life in His son was that you’d gain far more than this world could ever offer.

(If you didn’t read part 1, scroll down)

Today as I’m writing this, it is Sunday. The day when more people frequent churches all over the world to lift up the name of Jesus Christ, the Father and His Holy Spirit. The main symbol that one may think of when thinking of church is the cross. While we might most familiarize a cross as more of a decorative item in the halls of our churches or etched on our bibles, I’d like to suggest to view it in a different light.

3 Things the Cross Is Not

1. The cross of Jesus Christ is not cute.

Yes, the sterling silver necklace of a cross and the T-shirt with a colorful cross displayed on it might be termed, “cute”, but the cross of Christ is anything but that. Our savior, bruised and beaten with about 39 lashes carried a real piece of wood for the cross beam of His cross weighing anywhere from 75-125 pounds. Before this, He had agonized to the point of sweating blood, withstood a blow from the High Priest, been beaten with fists, scourged, bled from a crown of thorns that was pierced into his skull and his beard missed spots where in mockery hair had been plucked. This gruesome scene of carrying His cross dragged on for some 650 yards or so.

The physical trauma being too much to bare, He collapsed and a man was asked to help him finish carrying the beam. The rest of the details of the crucifixion were nails entereing his hands and feet and the pain from hanging on the cross display unbelievable agony. The blameless sinless Son of God hung there with the world’s sin and shame upon Him. This is such a violent picture, but nonetheless a picture of an unthinkable love. This wasn’t meant to just be a symbol of some “nice teachings”, or of “self-help”, or an entitlement to be better than others. This was real love poured out.

When Jesus called His disciples to come to Him, deny themselves and take up their crosses, He wasn’t asking them for a real physical death like He would eventually suffer. He was asking them if they would be willing to lay down their agendas, their desires, their sin and self dependency to embrace His love. He was challenging them to walk the road of what others may call suffering to embrace the kingdom of God. Let me clarify that suffering doesn’t mean that you have to be in poor health, live in poverty or in continual distress. However, suffering in Christ does mean dying to the desires and passions that war against the holiness of God. Jesus spoke these words with a heart of love and deep conviction as he urged His disciples to embrace their “death” to the love of the world so that they could follow Him. Seems like a cult, except that this man was fully God and fully man and took on our sin, death, hell and the grave to give us victory! What a mighty love!!

The cross is not something cute or to be taken lightly. The challenge Jesus gave to His then living disciples is the continual beckoning with which He reaches out to us today. We should not make light of this call, but with all seriousness and repentance of heart, embrace the cross of Christ. As we wear it around our necks, see it hung in our churches or place it as decor in our homes, may we be reminded that it’s calling us to die to what we think love and pleasure is and accept Jesus’ passionate love for us.

We weren’t the Pharisees or Roman soldiers who brought Jesus to the place of crucifixion that day, but our sin surely did. Instead of running away from the cross, may we look upon the One we’ve pierced and allow the reality of Christ’s finished work on the cross have it’s way in our lives.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to go with some of my husband’s family on a drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a suburban full of women and we were all giddy making our requests to see wildlife. Since we had my mother in law on board who is an “expert African safari tour guide”, and her sister driving us who is a local to the area, we were sure we’d see something. Off we go sharing stories as ladies do when suddenly I scream over my sweet mother in law—“MOOSE!” Aunt Pat hits her brakes and turns into the nearest stop area so we can get a glimpse of this creature. A few brave souls climb out (including yours truly)and get fairly close to the moose, who was thankfully too preoccupied with eating to bother with a few of us snapping it’s picture. On we went to discover a few more wildlife creatures including about a dozen elk and a mother and baby moose. Of course these had all been uttered prayers by our excited hearts.

On a couple of occasions, a few of us would be out of the car sneaking pictures of wildlife as cars would zoom by. One time we were pointing right at a deer and the car passing us looked to the completely opposite side of the road missing the beautiful animal. The most astonishing moment was when the elk family emerged from the trees only yards from the entrance to the park. Even though we were crouched down taking pictures, most cars drove right past probably assuming that surely nothing exciting could be that obvious and easy to spot.

Moments before I sat down to write, I’m sitting outside on a beautiful deck overlooking the mountains and a creek below me, when I suddenly see and hear several family members shout through the window. Startled, I tried to translate their lips and thought they were saying ,”heater!” It’s chilly and I have a heater above me that I did eventually turn on. However I realized they were saying,”DEER!” I turned to spot 4 deer right before my eyes walking through the yard. What’s even more entertaining is that a car load of family (mainly men) who had not gone to the park the day before were leaving the driveway in search of such wildlife as the deers crossed the road in front of them.

These thoughts brought me back to what I was reading this morning in Luke chapter 24. Jesus has just died and rose again. There are women who come to find His body at the tomb to properly prepare Him for burial, but instead find an empty tomb and two angels. Not what they were expecting. Then you have Peter in utter confusion at what has taken place. Following that story are two disciples who take a walk where Jesus shows up and they say to Him unknowing who He is, ” we were hoping that it was He…” Hope deferred had set into all of these hearts.

The disciples had every right in their own experience to be sad, disillusioned, and fearful. Yet, they were looking the wrong direction. Often, the ways of rejoicing in The Lord come from places of identifying with the suffering of Christ and allowing the difficult questions to lead us to the depths of the word of God. When we walk alongside Jesus and hear the word of God, our hearts should “burn within us” as did the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The truth is in fact that He is drawing near to us daily, pointing us to His word and pulling on our heart strings to respond to Him.

I might have been able to spot a moose easily, but am I as quick to notice Jesus speaking to me? How many of us are like the two disciples walking along our own road of “sorrow” and not even knowing what is being said to us by the Spirit of God? Sometimes I know I am just as blinded as they must have been that day. Things haven’t gone the way I’d hoped, I feel alone, discouraged or despaired. Yet on my walks of shame, guilt,anger, confusion and hope deferred, Jesus reveals Himself. I have a choice in those walks to either lean into my own heart, or recognize His glorious presence. I desire that my eyes would be enlightened to the truth of God’s word in those moments. What is encouraging is that the disciples’ eyes in Luke 24 WERE opened and they were able to go and share the good news with others about their encounter. Jesus later addresses His disciples and validates the entire word of God and shares that even a greater promise of the power of the Holy Spirit is still yet to come. The next instruction was again, to trust and wait.

As I conclude this, a little squirrel is running in circles around me and made me smile. My prayer for you today is that as you would be conscious of the beauty, joy and faithfulness of our Lord Jesus today. Christ knows what road you’re walking down and wants to encounter you. He is near and there are incredible things that you’ll miss if you look to what the world, your own heartache or the enemy tells you. Renounce the lies you’re believing today, and let your heart burn within and I believe your eyes will be open to His goodness and truth of God’s word.

Scripture to read: Luke 24
Song to listen to: Draw Near by Bethel (Jeremy Riddle)

One of my most favorite things in the world is fireflies. I caught a glimpse of a few last week when I was here in Springfield, Missouri and tonight I was reunited with their lovely sparkles.

Today had been a bit of a rough day and with my birthday coming up tomorrow, part of me was longing to be drawn away with the Lord. In the middle of conversation with my husband, I glanced out the window and notice fireflies making their way across the street. I ran and sat. Stillness engulfed me. All things slowed down for a moment. I felt the wind and the soft humidity hit my face and arms. I sighed. I prayed. And the air around me was filled with little flickering lights. I felt like a little girl and flashed back to summers as a child. Fireflies always come out around my birthday and only as dusk approaches can they be seen. I remember being little and chasing them full of joyful anticipation of where the next one might appear.

Suddenly I heard that still small and beautiful voice within say, “keep looking joyfully for my light in the midst of darkness”. Here I was heart heavy and was being reminded how beautiful God’s light really can be even in my darkest hour.

I’m not sure who I’m writing this for out there, but know that God, our loving Father who created the whole earth, stopped and planned out things like the stars and fireflies for us. That in the midst of darkness we would see a marvelous light. Jesus came to bear witness of that light to us, and sent His Holy Spirit to abide in us. May we continue to let our lights shine and capture the joy of a summer’s night of fireflies.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. (Psalms 51:12 NKJV)

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (I Peter 2:9 NKJV)

—BK