Borrowed Truths

Part of Your Cross

part of your cross
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Part of Your Cross

It’s supposed to be the closest relationship that we have with anyone in this lifetime, the most intimate of friends, the closest of companions, but I don’t mean your husband or your wife, although if you are married that should always be second.

There was a group not so many years ago called “Promise Keepers,” and if memory serves, they were quite a large organization at the time. It was a group of Christian men based in part on Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” I understand that there are some men who feel more comfortable speaking to another God-fearing man than they do anyone else, but I have also been curious about this, what is it that you would say to another man that you would not say to your wife, the one you are to be one with. (Eph. 5:31) I believe the same could be said for any close-knit group of Christian women, or even a lifelong friend, but the question again must be asked, why that person, and not your spouse?

In part, it may be because the love of a friend is different than that of a spouse, and the fear of the loss of even a day of their love, as it were, terrifies these individuals, and so many marriages can go on for decades with truths hidden, those they fear that love would not cover. This is not possible with the Lord, for He already knows everything about you, and no matter how hard you try to hide these sinful desires, these thoughts that are in rebellion against His will, He knows. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4:13)

But we try don’t we, we know it’s not possible, so in effect what we are doing is not really attempting to hide them from the Lord, but to deny that they exist within ourselves.

Many born-again believers I fear live a life of fear of their own thoughts, of the inability to control that which may be dishonoring to the Lord, and so they remain unprofitable, for the fear hinders their ability to serve effectually. Many of these are those that will repeat Matthew 7:1 quite often, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” along with the ever popular, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matt. 7:5) They are not so much concerned with you and what may indeed be an appropriate response to the particular situation, but in the deeper knowledge that they will be found out, that there is a secret part of themselves that should not be revealed to anyone.

Now those are not continuing, unrepented of sins, in fact, they may be nothing more than an occasional image or thought that flashes through their minds, but it is enough to keep the fear alive, the fear that someone may find out. These are the unnecessary burdens that we place on ourselves, and they can lead to as stated, not only an unprofitable life for the Lord, but to a marriage that will never be what the union between a man and women of God was intended to be, one person in their desire to serve the Almighty. While these are of course important, they pale in comparison to our relationship to Jesus Christ, and it is why our closest, personal relationship in this life is to be with Him.

There is the fact that He already knows, there is the fact that you also know, but there is also this, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27) Many of these things, these fleeting thoughts, that you deal with occasionally are never going to go away, they will remain until you are glorified, and as such they become part of that cross that we are to carry. They are indeed burdens, but they are to be carried by us nonetheless. Should we pray to be released from them, of course, but if you hear in a way that is clear to you, as Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12:9, then you must learn to live with them. They will add strength to your resolve, and when they are finally removed on your day of accounting, you will be able to give even more glory to God.

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