Day 293, or October the 20th. Just get on with
it. Our thoughts today are rooted in Luke chapter
14, verse 27. And whoever does not carry their
cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. And
now the big picture surrounding this verse. Much
of his southern ministry is spent on the east
side of the Jordan River, in the area called
Perea. It is never called by its proper name
in the Bible, but is usually referred to as the
area beyond the Jordan. It's the area where John
the Baptist ministered and the general area that
is called Moab in the Old Testament. If you use
a red -letter Bible which prints all the words
of Jesus in red, most of the next few pages in
the Bible are almost all red. This makes them
very special as we have the actual words of Jesus
recorded by Luke after consulting with eyewitnesses.
This eastern side of the Jordan Rift Valley was
the usual route for travellers going north or
south in order to avoid the unclean area of Samaria
that divided northern Galilee from southern Judea.
And now today's action step. You must have heard
people say, it's my cross and I have to bear
it, meaning it's a burden but I have to carry
it as part of following Jesus. I don't believe
this text means that. The whole reason for Jesus
coming to earth was to die on the cross to reconcile
us with God for eternity. He had a job to do.
He had to carry his cross. Now for the rest of
us, that is not our task. but nevertheless we
have a job to do, or, if you like, a cross to
carry. It's picturesque language to remind us
that Jesus did his job superbly, and we, with
his help, must endeavour to be as faithful and
effective as possible. Mark chapter 8 verse 34
reminds us, Then calling the crowd to join his
disciples, he said, If any of you wants to be
my follower, you must turn from your selfish
ways, take up your cross and follow me. So it's
not a burden to carry, but a job to do. So the
questions are obvious. Have you discovered your
job? And are you doing it? We all have to take
up our cross today.