Take you your cross—the way down is the way up

Mark 8:34, Deny himself.The inordinate love of self is the greatest obstacle to following Yeshua wholeheartedly and to becoming great in his kingdom. The chief characteristic of a life dominated by self is selfishness, pride, self-righteousness, self-centeredness and possessiveness. Such a person, to one degree or another, has forced Elohim out of the center of their life and has crowned themselves as their own king and has given themselves over to the coveting of things and the exaltation of self. 

To a person who has placed themselves at the center of their lives instead of Yeshua and his Word, self-life has become their main focus and fiercest passion. Such a person tends to be extremely self-invovled, self-centered, self-focused and selfish. They tend to always be talking about themselves, always wanting attention, always wanting people’s approval, their feelings are easily offended or hurt, they tend to be possessive, and they want to be in control of people and situations around them, that is, they’re bossy.

Possessiveness can take on several forms. One example is surrounding oneself with many physical possessions, which causes one to feel elevated in that it makes one the ruler of one’s own kingdom—the kingdom of stuff and self. Such people have a hard time giving their physical possessions away, even if they no longer need or use them. Physical things are an extension of themselves, and because they’re self-absorbed, their also selfish in that they have a hard time giving what belong to them to others.

With such a person, the pronouns I and me are constantly heard from their lips, and they have, to one degree or another, become their own god and the leader of their own religious sect—the religion of self. 

In response to the tyranny of self and material possessions that largely dominates and even monopolizes the endeavors of most self-centered and carnally (fleshly) minded people (which to one degree or another includes all of us), Yeshua says “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” Elsewhere he says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3). Finally, our Master leaves us with these words to ponder.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. (Mark 8:35)

In Yeshua’s kingdom, the way down is the way up; to give is the way to riches; to become a servant is the way to greatness. These all involve self-negation, not self-exaltation. How Yeshua lived and what he taught is diametrically opposite to what this world teaches us. Observe, learn from and follow his example.

 

3 thoughts on “Take you your cross—the way down is the way up

  1. I heard that in the Eskimo culture when a father tells his child “follow me” it means where I step in the snow, put your foot exactly in my footprint so you don’t fall through what may be not totally frozen lake beneath-as I put my step you put yours 🙂

    • I don’t know about the Eskimo culture, but this makes sense to me. Many times when I’ve been tramping around in the mountains, including climbing them, in deep snow, the person in front makes steps for those following him to walk in. It makes the going much easier. Often, the strongest hiker or climber will be the one in front, since it takes more effort to make new steps in the snow—especially when climbing. Following in someone else’s footsteps in the snow is easier than forging new footsteps. Doesn’t this analogy hold true with following Yeshua? This is a great analogy and speaks volumes of the Father’s (and Yeshua’s) love in aiding his children to walk through the deep snows of life! This reminds me of Paul’s admonition in 1 Cor 11:1.

  2. If I (Paul) am not following Messiah, don’t follow me but as I am following Messiah, you follow Messiah too!

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