Which Cross Do I Choose?

Faith – the belief in something based along the testimony of someone else.

Not the blind faith that atheists seem to think we have or the faith that is all about happy thoughts and rainbows and butterflies. No. The kind of faith that tells me about a man born of a Virgin, who lived a perfect life, who had the audacity to say that He loved me enough to be ridiculed, mocked, scourged, crucified and be killed for my sins. I believe because there is no other way. Jesus, himself, says that He is “The Way, The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me” John 14:6.

Many “wise” men before me tried to denounce and disprove Him. They tried to rid the world of His church. Frankly speaking, there are many more today! I don’t know where most of them are today but some of them are considered saints now. Look at St. Paul. Before his rebirth in Christ he was a staunch anti-Christian. He found pleasure in killing Christians and until his encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus he thought he was doing the will of God.

Enter the Messiah, Jesus.

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Acts 9:4

I consider his the greatest of all conversion stories because of what came of it. Not only did God use him to convert many others but he gave us 13 of our 27 books in the New Testament! Now we all can’t have a personal encounter with Jesus like that, but Jesus is calling us to convert daily! Everyday He is asking us to pick up our cross and live out our faith.

Now at this point, you’re probably thinking, “It’s silly to think that I need to pick up a cross! Jesus already did that for me!” But upon closer inspection, I refer you to Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” We as Christians, have died and are reborn into the Family of God through the Sacrament of Baptism.

Along with this we are granted a mission to spread the good news of the Gospel. In our pilgrimage walk through this life we are given a choice between two paths:

1) The path of the penitent thief aka the “good thief”

2) The path of the other unnamed thief.

*** disclaimer: I’m not going to get into a discussion about works vs. faith (faith alone) but here is a great article from Catholic Answers on that.

If we choose to pick up our cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24-26, Luke 9:23) as the good thief, or as tradition tells us his name is St. Dismas, then Jesus is right there with us sharing the load because He knows that we can’t go at it alone. We just need to have the faith of St. Dismas and trust in Jesus’ divine mercy. “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” Luke 23:42

We can choose NOT to follow Christ and believe in His Kingdom, like the other thief. We can live our lives the way we want to and only in our great distress do we reach out to Him (if we reach out at all). God gives us free will to do so. But that doesn’t pardon us of a cross to carry. That cross just becomes like an anchor. When times are tough it’s like the rising tide, so long as you can keep your head above water you can survive or just get by. But what happens when you’re in over your head? What happens when you are being held down by that anchor when the water is well above you? I’ve gone through tough times in my life without Christ and it feels just like you’re drowning. But be not afraid! Christ is there, He is always there. You just need to invite him in and He’ll help you carry the burdens of your life. He’ll bring you up out of the raging waters like He did with Peter. We just need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

²⁸ Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. ³³ And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” Matthew 14:22-23

My faith is blind insofar as, I do not know what God has planned for me. But it is not blind because I have no proof of Him. One only needs to look closely at His apostles from the beginning. From their testimony of following Him, traveling with Him, and learning from Him. So, ask yourself, which cross do I choose?

Gentleman, it’s time to be real men of faith.