April 5th: Wait, what cross?

That night I was awakened to this truth: Jesus carried His cross and fully expects me to carry mine too.

I was a few months in my newly sold out walk with Christ. Like, over the top, 120% going after God! Of course one of my favorite things was to feed my spirit and listen to teaching of God’s Word. Needless to say, every time the church doors were open – I was there!

The church I was attending at the time was having a special guest speaker on this particular Wednesday night. I was excited because it was not a “typical” preacher, instead he was a business man. A business man from South Florida that drove all the way up to Palm Compton (also known as Palm Coast) to share with our church about God in the workplace.

I was excited! I got to the campus as soon as I could, found myself on the front left row of the sanctuary with notepad in hand. As he took the stage he said it…said something that shook me…

He quoted Jesus, in all 4 Gospels, saying “..pick up your cross and follow me..” Now, I’m sure I heard it said before, I’m sure I heard sermons include these scriptures. I actually even knew “carry your cross” meant “die to my selfish ways”, but this night was different and full of fresh revelation.

This was the night I was awakened to the truth: Jesus carried His cross and fully expects me to carry mine too.

That night I began to see how Jesus carried His cross as a picture, as an example for us to carry our cross. Jesus, in His assignment, did what I could never do by taking away the sins of the world, and in doing so He freed me to carry my cross and fulfill my assignment. Think about this, the cross was the reason Jesus left Heaven, so it represents the assignment Jesus had on the earth. In the same way our cross we are called to carry represents our assignment.

Every one of us have a divine assignment to carry out while we are on this side of eternity! To raise the stakes even more, every one of us have a part to play in healing broken humanity through the good-news of Jesus! What’s your part you may ask? It’s the cross you’ve been purposed to carry, it’s the assignment God has given to you. It is the thing that breaks your heart when you see it. That is your cross you have been assigned to, been purposed to carry.

I will never forget how God used the business man that night to speak with such grace and clarity. In a nutshell his sermon was “..assignments are not just on a platform, or on a social media post…assignments are the crosses you have been called to carry that will impact the very people around you.”

That night I went from “..wait, what cross?” to “Jesus, thank you for your cross & help me see mine.”

Pray this today,

Holy Spirit, show me my assignment, my cross I have been called to carry in this season. My heart is to serve You, Lord.

Let me see my clear next step in carrying my cross.

*written by Trevor Hersey