Take The First Step

And Laban said, "It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn." (Genesis 29:26)

We do not excuse Laban for his dishonesty.

But there are lessons we can learn from his custom.

There are some things in life which must be taken in order.

If we want to win the second, we must secure the first.

The second may be the more lovely, but the elder must be married first.

As Christians, we may desire the joy and peace in believing, but we must first repent of our sins and live a holy life.

The cross must be carried before the crown can be worn.

We must follow our Lord in His humiliation, or we shall never rest with Him in glory.

Like Jacob, our years of service will be short and sweet because of the love we have to Jesus.

And when the hour to be with Jesus has come, we will forget all our toils, our pain and labor.

Carrying The Cross

Jesus turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan!
You are a stumbling block to me;
you do not have in mind the concerns of God,
but merely human concerns.”
(Matthew 16:23)

The third temptation of Jesus was when the devil offered Him the kingdom without the cross.

The devil was saying, ‘Don’t go off and make all those sacrifices, spend nights in agony praying, and end up being tortured by soldiers and dying a horrible death. Just take it all now, from my hand!’

The church often faces the same temptation. The devil offers us power without suffering.

Jesus called Peter ‘Satan’ when he made the same suggestion.

When we mention everything about Christianity but fail to talk about suffering, we are taking away the cross from the Christian life. We are bringing a satanic suggestion.

Anyone who says we can follow Christ but not carry our cross is no better than Satan himself.

Jesus said so. He said it to Satan. He said it to Peter. And this goes to anyone else who dares to think they can be a Christian witness without talking about carrying the cross.

Let us realize that every Christian is required to carry the cross.

Oh Lord, I will no longer try to eliminate the way of the cross from my Christian living. Help me never again attempt to substitute power for suffering.