Mark 8:34 And He called the crowd to Him with His disciples and said to them, If anyone wants to follow after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
[Part 1 of 2] Among God's children, some do suffer, but there are not many who really bear the cross. When they are suffering, they express themselves in a few different ways. Someone may think that since he is a Christian, he is supposed to suffer. Outwardly he says nothing, and he really looks like a cross- bearing Christian, but secretly he is murmuring. Such persons, who murmur a great deal after they have suffered, still do not know what the cross is because inwardly they are filled with bitter feelings; they need wine mingled with gall. Some people do not murmur when they suffer. There is neither spoken nor silent murmuring. Yet they weep. We must realize that the cross is a place where the blood is shed and the body is sacrificed; the cross is not the place of weeping and self-pity. Those who pity themselves and weep are those who do not know the cross. Weeping means that one is not willing to see himself suffer. Only those at the foot of the cross weep; those who are on the cross have no tears. If a person feels hurt after enduring a little pain or suffers after incurring a little loss, he still does not know what the cross is. There is also another kind of person who is puffed up with pride and pretends to be an overcomer. This person is not a crucified person either because his kind of reaction is for gaining people's attention. He seems to be saying, "Though I suffer, I can still sing hymns and still give praise; I am a cross-bearer." The purpose of his behavior is to gain man's admiration. This is also wine mingled with gall; this is not bearing the cross either.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 37, in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 99-100. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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