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Have you ever heard the phrase “dying to the cross daily”? Or maybe you’ve heard it as “taking up your cross daily”.
Did you know that this comes straight from the bible? Luke 9:23 says: Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.“
When I first became a Christian I thought, “wow, I’m a Christian now! Everything will be so much easier.”
Nope, that’s not the case. After becoming Christians we will still face temptation, sin, and hardship of all kinds. But when we become Christian we do something different.
We look to the cross, we pray, we follow Jesus. Sure we may fail at times, but that’s when we make the decision to do better, recognize our sin, ask for forgiveness, and work on doing better the next time we have that temptation.
Did you know that the devil knows every single time we let distractions come between us and our relationship with God? He’s a predator lurking for any given moment to snatch you up.
Sometimes it is something as simple as not wanting to pick up your bible and scrolling social media instead. (I’m not saying that you have to read your bible at all times and never look at social media), but when you hear that little voice of God saying “spend time with me” or “open your bible”, but you choose to ignore that voice, you automatically are being pulled away from God.
It is a daily battle. DAILY. Not a once a month battle or annual anniversary of when you got baptized battle. No, it’s daily. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. When you’re not close with God, he swoops in and pulls you further from Him.
I’m not innocent, this is a constant battle myself. If I decide not to start my morning with God because I’m tired and want to just slowly wake up while swiping through mindless videos, I notice a few things:
- I become short tempered
- I’m reminded of everything that has been negative in my life (which equals more anger)
- I hyper-focus on all of my imperfections
God brings us peace. He brings hope and prosperity. He made us in His perfect image.
It’s amazing how one day not spent close to God = forgetfulness of His goodness and promises to us.
Dying to the cross doesn’t literally mean you die. It means you die to yourself. The old you is dead and gone. It means that you’re choosing to not be who you were (ex. drugs, gossip, lying, stealing, cheating).
IT IS A DAILY BATTLE
So, how do we die to the cross daily? So glad you asked.
1.) Start your morning with God
I have learned many times that if I don’t actually start my day with Him, my whole day is thrown off and I just want to go back to my old ways. At first, it is easier to revert back to how you’ve handled different situations than it is to go to God.
Ex. It’s easier to yell at someone with choice words and make a certain hand gesture when they cut you off while driving than it is to take a deep breath and ask God for patience.
If you need help getting started, read 2 chairs by Bob Beaudine
2.) Be in His Word.
We can’t possibly be close to God if we aren’t even reading the bible (His promises to us. His rule book for us.) Let me tell you, you can read the bible for your entire life and find something new in it everyday. God will reveal what He wants you to deeply understand in your reading, and one verse could easily have multiple different points to make and God will reveal what point He wants you to understand at certain times.
3.) Worship
Worship is an intimate moment with God when we are thanking Him for all He has done for us. Sing His praise! Remember where you came from and what He has done for you. He loves you!
A note about music: Be very careful what you are listening to . Remember, Lucifer was the angel of music. It would be wild to think he has no huge part of the music industry and entering into our lives through the words of songs. There is a lot of evil in this world and if it was obvious, our first reaction would be to avoid it, right? But then Satan wouldn’t have a hold on you. He is very meticulous in how he gets to you, and you don’t even see it coming… Unless you are in close relationship with God.
4.) When life gets crazy, go to God.
Don’t try to be your own savior, protector, defender, judge, etc… God is ALL of that and more!
David talks about this in Psalms:
“I love you, Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.” Psalms 18:1-3
People will talk about you, we aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Jesus wasn’t even everyone’s cup of tea and He is perfect! Stop trying to conform to people’s standards and conform to God’s standards.
Stop trying to defend yourself. Stop casting stones on other people when they sin, because I know you have sinned too. We all have.
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
You know who was speaking in those verses? Jesus
My friend. Die to your cross daily. Be in relationship with God because I promise you, what He has for us is so much better than we have ever wanted for ourselves. We can’t possibly have the life He promises us unless we are in relationship with Him. Daily. Just as you would talk to your spouse, friends, or family daily.. You need to talk to God daily and choose His standard of living over the old you.