SOMETHING SERIOUS TO PONDER

SOMETHING SERIOUS TO PONDER

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians
6:14

"They were people who were living to themselves. Their hopes, promises,
and dreams still controlled them, but the Lord began to fulfill their
prayers.

They had asked for a repentant heart and had surrendered themselves with
a willingness to pay any price for it, and He sent them sorrow.
They asked for purity, and He sent them sudden anguish.
They had asked for meekness, and He had broken their hearts.
They had asked to be dead to the world, and He killed all their living
hopes.
They had asked to be made like Him, so He placed them in the refiner's
fire.
They had asked to help carry His cross, yet when He held it out to them,
it cut and tore their hands.
They had not fully understood what they asked, but He had taken them at
their word and granted them all their requests.
They had been unsure whether to follow Him such a long distance or
whether to come close to Him. Yet there was an awe of Him ... The
disciples were so filled with awe, they felt like asking Him to either
depart from or to hide His glory.

They found it easier to obey than to suffer, to work than to give up, to
carry the cross to hang upon it. But now they could not turn back, for
they had come too close to the unseen cross of the spiritual life, and
it's virtues had pierced them too deeply.

Now at last their opportunity had come. Earlier they had only HEARD of
the mystery, but now they felt it. He had fastened His eyes of love on
them, as He had on Mary and Peter, so they could only choose to follow
Him. And little by little, from time to time, with quick glimmers of
light, the mystery of His cross shone upon them.

They say Him "lifted up from the earth" and gazed on the glory that
radiated from the wounds of His holy suffering. As they looked upon Him,
they approached Him and were changed into His likeness. His name shone
out through them, for He lived within them. Their life from that moment
was one of inexpressible fellowship solely with Him above. They were
willing to live without possessions that others owned and that they
could have had, in order to be unlike others so that would be more like
Him.

This is the description of all those who throughout the ages who "follow
the Lamb wherever He goes" (Revelation 14:4). If they had chosen
selfishly for themselves or if their friends had chosen for them, they
would have made other choices. Their lives would have shone more
brightly here on earth but less gloriously in HIS kingdom.

Yet God strengthened them and protected them, even from themselves.
Often in His mercy He held them up when they otherwise would have
slipped and fallen. And even in this life, they knew all that He did was
done well. They knew it was good to suffer in this life so they would
reign in the one to come; to bear the cross below, to wear a crown
above; and to know that not their will but His was done in them and
through them." Adapted from Streams in the Desert

Very powerful words for us to consider today. Something serious to
ponder ...

Great quote: Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a
willing heart to bear the burdens of others. Give me a believing heart
to cast all burdens upon Thee, O Lord. John Baillie