Attached to the Upright

When you think you know it all (this is a joke), there it is. In Jesus' outline of proper responses to the gospel, i.e. 1) Come after (behind); 2) self-denial; 3) daily cross-bearing; 4) following, there is an obvious picture of what it means to be in relationship with Jesus. This idea of "take up his cross" and that is our cross, not Jesus' cross, there is a precise picture of the salvation we have. Get the picture in your head. There are two pieces to the cross. There is the upright pole or post that vertically goes into the ground and stretches out toward heaven. Then, there is the cross beam that stretches out horizontally. Jesus is the upright piece, the righteous one, completely perpendicular to the earth. Where Jesus intersects the earth there is a right angle. Now each day, we hoist our cross beam up and attach ourselves to his vertical pole forming a union with Him in His death. We do not become part of the right angle until we attach to Him. But, once firmly in place we form the perfect picture of what salvation is, us attached to the right angle making us a part of the right angle. Let that picture sink in. The word Jesus uses is "to lift up, or take up, or bear. It is used in Matt.11:29 to depict our taking up Jesus' yoke, a very similar picture as the cross. It is often used of the taking away or bearing up of sin (John 1:29; 1 John 3:5). Ironically the cries of John 19:15, "Away with Him! Away with Him!" screamed out by the crowd who wanted Jesus crucified is from this same word. "Lift Him Up! Lift Him Up!" was the sentiment. Now, each morning there should be in our ears the cries of "Away with him! Away with him!" meaning away with self, away with self..attach self to the cross of Christ and kill it.

If we would have daily forgiveness, reconciliation, redemption, righteousness, and sanctification we must be attached to the upright. The cross is stauros, stake or post. Paul wove cross-theology throughout his writings. He did not want to do anything that would cause the cross to be overshadowed or to lose its power (1 Cor.1:17-18). Some push other agendas to avoid the message of the cross (Gal.6:12). But the cross was Paul's boast (Gal.6:14). Here Paul describes what Jesus was talking about, "through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world." His upright beam and my cross beam when attached securely put me in proper relationship to the world. When attached to the upright I am not vulnerable to the world's influences. This is why Luke adds "daily" to the mix. I cannot afford to go one day unattached to the upright one. This is why Paul says, "I die daily." (1 Cor.15:31) This is a deliberately death. This is profoundly radical. Each morning we Christians are to reenact the crucifixion, not His which was "once for all" but ours which is daily.