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March 27
THE CROSS MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Scripture: Luke 9:23 “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow me.”

    The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary tells us that “the people in Jesus' day knew what it meant to "take up" a cross. They saw scores of criminals bearing the cross to the place where they were to be executed, and they witnessed scores of crucifixions, some even by the side of the roads that led in and out of the cities. 
     The cross does not mean merely bearing one's particular hardship in life, such as poor health, abuse, unemployment, invalid parents, an unsaved spouse, a wayward child. The cross is always an instrument of death, not just an object to carry or bear. The Christian is to die mentally and actively. He is to deny himself daily. He is to let the mind of Christ, the mind of humbling himself to the point of death, be in him and fill his thoughts every day (Phil. 2:5-8; 2 Cor. 10:3-5). He is to put his will, his desires, his wants, his ambitions to death. In their stead, he is to follow Jesus and to do His will all day long. Note this is not negative, passive behavior. It takes positive, active behavior to will, to deny self, to take up one's cross, to follow Christ. A person has to act, work, get to it, be diligent, consistent, and enduring in order to die to self.”
    Are you willing to do what it takes to bear that cross today?  Are you willing to not just carry the cross, but daily reckon yourself to be dead unto sin and alive unto God?  What a difference the cross makes in our lives!