Taking Up My Cross (Lenten Theme)

My Suffering Savior, I am both honored and a little frightened by Your call for me to take up my cross, deny myself and follow You.  In responding to my call, I must be willing to follow in Your footsteps … going wherever You send me … and, doing whatever You ask me to do.  Your Cross demanded that You pay the ultimate price for my salvation … my cross demands that I spend my life going about redeeming the fruits of Your sacrifice.  You had a mission to accomplish with Your Cross and so do I with mine.  Yours called for You to die for me … mine calls for me to die to myself so I can live for You.  Carrying my cross … with all of its lessons and struggles with sin, the world and self … builds up strength and helps me identify with You more.  When the going gets tough and my load becomes heavy, strengthen me with the power of the Holy Spirit and teach me His wisdom so I can become more like you.

Help me come to understand that my life is my cross and I must bear it with joy.  It is my responsibility to care for it and its outcomes.  Along the way there will be times when I need a “Simon” to help me carry my cross so I can achieve my goal.  However, I must never forget that the cross is mine to bear.  Your call to take up my cross bore no promise that my life would be easy.  Instead, You warned that as long as I live in the world I will have tribulations but, if I kept the faith, remained cheerful and walked uprightly, my outcomes will all be good.  I sometimes feel that the weight of my cross is too hard to bear, but You assure me that it is not heavier than I can carry.  Help me not give up before the job is done and my journey is complete.  Help me keep moving forward and not succumb to the paralysis of fear and doubt.

Through the carrying of my cross, show me how to grow in trust and love for You.  Help me abandon self and become willing to be sacrificial the way You were.  By Your Cross and resurrection, You overcame sin, death and the grave … in bearing mine, help me honor the work You did on Yours.  No longer should I see myself as a victim beaten down by the world, circumstances or my enemies … rather, as a warrior of the Cross … called to make a mark in the world for You.  I gladly take up my cross to follow You because You have shown me the way I must go.  In successfully bearing my cross, as You did Yours, I know that I have earned Heavenly blessings and rewards that You will bestow on me as my needs demand.  Because of my undying love and devotion to You, I gladly take up my cross each day to follow in Your footsteps.  And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray.  AMEN!!

Matthew 10:38 … anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.