Complete Devotion to Jesus (TMF:1448)

Wednesday, September 02, 2020
Peace to Live By: Complete Devotion to Jesus (TMF:1448) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       During Jesus’ time, the Roman cross was a form of capital punishment, it was how a person was executed for a severe enough crime. So, a person would pick up his cross—that which he was to be executed on—and carry it toward the place where he was to be executed. In our day and age, we might say a person must sit in his electric chair, take the noose by which he is to be hanged, or walk into his gas chamber, to use some examples. The point is that by picking up our crosses, we are saying that we are so devoted to Jesus that even our own lives are less important than he is. In other words, we are willing to give our lives for him—that is, even to die—if necessary and if in God’s plan and will, for his sake—for the sake of the Good News, the Gospel. That’s how much we love the truth, how much we love Jesus. Therefore, picking up our crosses and then actually following Jesus, which is making his Word the guide to our lives in being obedient to him—those two things—go hand-in-hand.