The Weight

Beginning as a deaf child, my eyes are what have guided me through life. I have a strong appreciation for objects and sights of all different shapes, sizes and colors but the simpler the object is the more I’m drawn to study it. Thus, the two single pieces overlapping to make a Cross has had my attention‎ since early childhood.

The Cross has drawn me visually wherever I may be – I can see the Cross on back country roads with lines of telephone poles, in every paned glass window, even the paneled doors in every room. It amazes me that I find the Cross in the most common everyday places. Look around you – you would have your work cut out to try and  remove the Cross from our world today.

I share this to introduce to you what I see each day. In Vermont I live in a small log cabin built from pine trees harvested from the property. The ceiling above my bed has large beams that support the roof. It’s those support timbers in the position of the Cross that my eyes behold each day – the first thing in the morning; the last thing I see at night. As I ponder this cross it has given me a clearer and richer picture of the weight my Savior carried for me that day.

I study that Cross each day as if I’m seeing it for the very first time. I am awed by the weight and size of the beams. They are heavy and rugged. Scripture records in Isaiah 53:4,5 that Jesus was wounded and bruised for our sins, He was beaten that we might have peace and then He was lashed at that we might be healed. I cannot physically partake in that event. I cannot begin to imagine what He suffered but God has given me a view of the weighted Cross that He bore to Calvary that day and I am in total awe. Each day as I open my eyes I see that weight and I go back to that day when His body was beaten so severely only to have the enormous weight upon Him that He bore for you and for me.

The Cross is not a historical relic from the past, but it is highly relevant in our lives today. It is both a noun and an action verb. We are called to take up our cross, to carry our cross, to be crucified with our Lord.  In a progressive politically correct world the Cross is merely an antique object that is to be disregarded and done away with but those who walk the faith and not merely talk will cling to the Cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.

As I gaze upon the two heavy beams above my head I can visualize my Savior carrying the weight that day as He stumbled up the hill to Calvary. He carried the weight of my shame and my sins. He carried the weight that I struggle under through daily trials and temptations, through hopes and fears and promises broken. He carried the weight that day for me and all mankind and when He finished that journey, He was nailed to the weight of that same heavy tree and died for you and He died for me.

‎‎We don’t talk about the Cross today. Talking about Christ being crucified and being nailed to that tree makes us uncomfortable. Why is this? Have the words of the Roman Orator, Cicero, proven true where our government has finally erased the Cross from our ears, eyes and thoughts? Has our modern church grown beyond the Cross where pastors are more ready to encourage their people with the “How-to-do Sermons” such as How to Be Happy, How To Prosper, How To Have A Better Marriage or How To Raise Children? Let’s face it. Who wants to talk about being crucified?  Yet it is the very existence of our Christian faith. It is the only way to actually experience life in abundance, a life that many Christians have yet to experience. Have I lost you?

What would you say if I told you that you would never need to have a bad day again in your life? That you don’t need to be angry, upset, hurt, frustrated or in tears of emotional disappointment?

What did you say? You’re a joke, it’s impossible – life is hard and in reality I have more bad days than good, and now you’re trying to sell me a fast pep talk, “Never a bad day again” story. Come on, you say.

What if my statement is true ? Would you do anything to obtain a life of endless good days? The next blog will give you specific evidence that the good life is yours for the taking but you will need to take up your Cross and you must die. The day you chose to be a Christian you took a death sentence to be crucified with Christ and to thus die with Him is the only way to live. Stay tuned to the next blog on this critical revelation of having victory without any bad hair days!!