My Son
"If
anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).
I was speaking to a group in
another city recently, and the nature of the talk was about how we tend
to interfere with the workings (the grace) of God in our lives. The
talk was over and I left the room to enter a kitchen area, where I was
resting and drinking tea before returning home. A lady came up to me
and said, "My son". I waited and she continued, "My son is the cross in
my life!" I then understood what she meant.
One of the points in that talk was
about perceiving our "cross". We are promised the cross but don't know
what it is, and often pray He will eliminate the very "cross" given us,
that would enable us to grow in the faith.
She had been praying diligently for
her son to change, for her own responses to be different; ANYTHING to
make life better. She prayed for years about the situation from every
aspect except one: ACCEPTANCE. She had not yet acknowledged that God is
sovereign in EVERYTHING, including the relationship she has (doesn't
have) with her son.
"Faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17)
is one of the great "cornerstone" verses of Scripture. It was written
in relation to the nation Israel, and yet it has application to every
one of us. Paul, the human author of those words, continued, "But
I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed" (Romans 10:18).
Israel did hear, and like them, we
often hear the good things of God but faith does not grow, because we do
not understand. Sometimes the word of God will say to you, "Wait"
(Psalm 27:14), and that is NOT the message we long to hear. But this is
not simply "waiting", like you wait for a bus on a street corner. This
is "Wait on the LORD" (Psalm 27:14), "be
of good courage, and HE shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the
Lord."
WHO you wait for is WHY it makes
sense to wait! There was a lady of 100 years ago, a "Mrs. Rounds" (from
"Streams in the Valley"), who wrote of her boy:
"When
my little son was about ten years of age, his grandmother promised him a
stamp album for Christmas. Christmas came, but no stamp album, and no
word from grandmother. The matter, however, was not mentioned, but when
his playmates came to see his Christmas presents, I was astonished,
after he had named this and that as gifts received, to hear him add,
'and a stamp album from grandmother.'"
Literally months passed, and Mrs.
Rounds wrote of the belief her boy continued to have in the faithfulness
of his grandmother, and finally, the letter came:
"My
dear Georgie, I have not forgotten my promise to you of an album. I
tried to get such a book as you desired, but could not get the sort you
wanted; so I sent on to New York. It did not get here till after
Christmas, and it was still not right, so I sent for another, and as it
has not come as yet, I send you three dollars to get one in Chicago.
Your loving grandma…"
Mrs. Rounds reported the next words
of her son: "See, Mamma, didn't I tell you?"
and she went on - "this came from the depths
of a heart that never doubted… that the stamp album would come."
God has not forgotten YOU, either.
What you need is accomplished, and a letter has been sent you, written
in the blood of Jesus Christ. If you sum up the contents of that
letter, it says, "I love you; I have heard your prayer, and it is
ANSWERED!" The answer might not be what (or when) you would expect, but
He cares for you.
There was a Bible translation of
years ago, called the "Weymouth" version, which gave Mark 11:24, this
way: "Have faith that whatever you ask for in
prayer is already granted you, and you will find that it will be."
And that is utterly true for you and me.
What, by the way, is your cross?
It may take various forms in your life and may be presented through more
than one person or circumstance. It may be sent through MANY people,
who have no idea of the function they serve in relation to you. In
answering the additional question, "What is the area of greatest PAIN in
your life?" you may well find the answer to the question, "What is your
cross?
"If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23), is for you and me right now.
We read these words, and so often have no idea of the reality of them
for each one of us personally.
When we commemorate the death of
our Lord Jesus, in communion, we not only express thanks for what He has
done, but also we offer ourselves in kind. "Just as You have offered
Yourself to me, Lord Jesus, I give myself to you." It's the same thing
in baptism, which teaches, "as many of us as
were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death"
(Romans 6:3). To come into Christ is to receive His cross. The
wonderful news is that we also have His resurrection. We die in one
way, but LIVE in another.
In marriage, we are to be "submitting
to one another in the fear of God" (Ephesians 5:21). "Submitting"
means that I give up what I want, because my love is greater than needs
for other things. We can't do this in our own strength, which leads to
the "ACCEPTANCE", mentioned earlier.
To be on the "cross"
is to lose control over events that are around you. The cross will
bring pain and you can do nothing about it. The cross will also set you
free. Often the very
one you love the most is the cross in your life. You give them
EVERYTHING and sometimes get nothing in return. I never met my mother
in law, who passed on, many years ago. But she would take her
children's pains and "kiss them up to God". Let's do the same.
Lord, we bring
you our aches, our pains, our sorrows and our needs. We don't know
about a "cross" right now - we just know we need You. We give You our
troubles, and trust in You now. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Ron Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
www.fridaystudy.org
Ron@fridaystudy.org
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