Bearing our cross . . .

Just think about it!

"One Man's Opinion"
A weekly Christian commentary by Jim Roane

If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men, the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.
— A. W. Tozer

Dear Friends,

We should not be amazed that the old faults of the past continue to reassert themselves. Men and women it seems are willing, sometimes eager, I might say, to acknowledge the goodness of Christ without bowing to His holiness. Willing, as it were, to give Jesus lip-service but not submission. The truth of the matter is that the Bible is dead-set against making Jesus anything less than God incarnate worthy of worship and obedience. Platitudes and showcase Christianity are a bane to the Church, causing countless to lose faith, become disheartened and slip into the shadows. The church for many is simply just one big revolving door. The heavenly manna is gone, so they leave empty and hungry.

Why is that?

The simple facts is that that babies are not conditioned for a marathon, so when the journey becomes long and tedious they fall by the wayside. Milk Christianity will never make the grade (c.f. 1 Cor. 3:1-2), so that should come as no surprise when they do fail. Nor should it surprise anyone when I say that there is nothing wrong with milk, if as Peter reprimands us we rid ourselves of all wickedness, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander in order to mature into a  spiritually heathy adult (c.f. 1 Peter 2).

Now, I know it is easy to blame the pastor for not preaching the word and giving the people enough meat to live on; however, the truth is that many don’t want the word, they prefer a magic wand that someone can wave over them and fix all that ails them, spiritually, financially, physically and otherwise. Because of this many pastors, admittedly, have fallen into that trap. It’s a whole lot easier to preach a Gospel of grace than it is to remind the congregate that there is no such thing as cheap grace. Grace comes with a price. First of all it cost The Father His Son which in turn cost His Son His life as a ransomed for many, as Scripture reminds us (Mark 10:45, et. al.) Then lastly, although not lease by any stretch of the imagination, it cost us the work of becoming holy as God is holy. That cost comes in many forms, chiefly among them is our inordinate ambitions, secret sins, fleshly desires—yes, and even giving more than lip service to tithing and special gifts to help grow the church or help the needy. The number is far too large to enumerate; however, does not diminish our responsibility to count the cost. In this regards, now listen to the words of Christ:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26-33).

Counting the cost for those of us who have past the prime of life also means that we should take an occasional inventory just to make sure that we are not laboring in vain (Psalm 127:1; Luke 14:28). Paul, we can all agree was indeed a holy man; however, he was never one to sit on his laurels. He, himself, admitted that even the best of athletes, including himself, must discipline themselves daily and stay in shape to even stay in the contest to eventually win the prize (1 Corinthians 9:27).

For Paul it was not enough to enter the contest but rather to finishing it is all that counts. Otherwise, it is like a boxer beating the thin air expecting to get the championship belt by simply going through the motions, or a marathon runner running around aimlessly imagining that’s enough to win the race. It just doesn’t work that way. Simply because, to quote Yogi Berra:

"If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else."

 Be blessed, better yet bless others,

JimR_/-