We must carry the cross if we would wear the crown

By: American Decency Staff

By Bill Johnson As we go into this Labor Day holiday, some will go with such high expectations – especially the young and the naïve of heart.  Their anticipation is that all is supposed to go without difficulty.  My Dad used to say to my mother “Donna, life is not a bowl full of cherries.â€Â I used to take that all in as a youngster.  Now over the years I have discovered that in this broken world we ourselves are broken and are immersed in brokenness and fallenness. As you go into this “holidayâ€Â, be mindful of that reality and that Satan is lurking about seeking whom he may devour.  For the believer, though, God uses difficulties and hardships to make us more like him. Whatever, be on guard as you go and go asking for God’s helping hand. Consider the text: John 15:26 – 16:4 Quoting from J.C. Ryle’s devotional from the Gospels We find our Lord explaining his special reason for delivering the prophecy just referred to, as well as all his discourse. ‘These things,’ he says, ‘I have spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.’ Well did our Lord know that nothing is so dangerous to our comfort as to indulge false expectations.  He therefore prepared his disciples for what they must expect to meet with in his service.  Forewarned, forearmed!  They must not look for a smooth course and a peaceful journey. They must make up their minds to battles, conflicts wounds, opposition, persecution and perhaps even death.  Like a wise general, he did not conceal from his soldiers the nature of the campaign they were beginning.  He told them all that was before them, in faithfulness and love, that when the time of trial came, they might remember his words and not be disappointed and offended.  He wisely forewarned them that the cross was the way to the crown. To count the cost is one of the first duties that ought to be pressed on Christians in every age. It is no kindness to young beginners to paint the service of Christ in false colours and to keep back from them the old truth: ‘Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God.’  By prophesying smooth things and crying ‘Peace’, we may easily fill the ranks of Christ’s army with professing soldiers.  But they are just the soldiers, who, like the stony-ground hearers, in time of tribulation will fall away and turn back in the day of battle.  No Christian is in a healthy state of mind who is not prepared for trouble and persecution. He that expects to cross the troubled waters of this world and to reach heaven with wind and tide always in his favour knows nothing yet as he ought to know. W never can tell what is before us in life.  But of one thing we may be very sure:  we must carry the cross if we would wear the crown.  Let us grasp this principle firmly and never forget it.  Then, when the hour of trial comes, we shall ‘not be offended’. For meditation: When Christianity cost little, its truths are held too lightly and its practices treated without seriousness. ========================================================== Your support is important to our ability to make a difference. Donate online at: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/donate.php American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

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