EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/23/2026
9:23 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
“Cross
Bearing”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
9:23b
Message of the verse:
“and take up his cross daily”
Taking up your cross in contemporary
jargon one’s cross has come to represent any difficult or unpleasant
circumstance, no matter how trivial.
Some argue that their job, boss, car, mother-in-law, or wayward teenager
is their cross. However others view
taking up their cross as identifying in some mystical sense with the
crucifixion of Christ. That would not be
a notion the followers of Jesus would have entertained, since though He had
told of His death, He had not yet told them He would be crucified. The Lord’s hearers would be under no such
illusions as people of today have. To
those of His day, a cross represented only one thing—horrible suffering,
pain, and death. Crucifixion was a
common method of execution used by the Romans, and it was an all too familiar sight
in first-century Palestine. This when
the Lord declared that anyone who would follow Him had to take up his cross
daily they understood perfectly what He meant. In the most graphic terms possible, Jesus was
calling for a willingness to endure hatred, hostility, rejection, reproach,
persecution, shame, even the most horrible death; to say no to self and no to
safety for His sake (cf. 1 Peter 4:16).
A sacrifice small when compared to the gift of eternal life.
(cf. 1 Peter 4:16)
“16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”
John MacArthur writes “Paul’s farewell
speech to the elders of the church at Ephesus reflected the apostle’s
willingness to suffer whatever was required of him for the cause of Christ:
And now,
behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will
happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in
every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. But I do not consider my life of any account
as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I
received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of
God. (Acts 20:22-24)
“A short
while later Paul said to those concerned about his safety if he went to
Jerusalem, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even
to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus’ (Acts 21:13). ‘I die daily,’ he told the Corinthians (1
Cor. 15:31), expressing the reality that he lived constantly on the brink of
death (cf. Acts 20:19; 2 Cor. 1:22-33).”
(1 Cor. 15:31)
“31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you,
which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!”
(cf. Acts 20:19; 2 Cor. 1:22-33)
“19 serving the Lord with all humility and with
tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews;”
“22 ¶ Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they
Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better
one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments,
with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews
the forty lashes less one. 25 Three
times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked;
a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger
from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the
wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a
sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and
exposure. 28 And, apart from other
things, there is the daily, pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who
is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus,
he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas
was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a
window in the wall and escaped his hands.”
“There is no crown without a
cross. Eternal life is so precious that
those who truly seek it are willing to give up everything to obtain it if the
Lord wills and even suffer with Joy (cf. 1 Peter 4:12-19).”
(cf. 1 Peter 4:12-19)
“12 ¶ Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery
trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were
happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar
as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when
his glory is revealed. 14 If you are
insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory
and of God rests upon you. 15 But let
none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the
household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those
who do not obey the gospel of God? 18
And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly
and the sinner?” 19 Therefore let those
who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator
while doing good.”
“They can
say with Paul, ‘Momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal
weight of glory far beyond all comparison’ (2 Cor. 4:17).
10/23/2026
9:52 PM
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