Our walk in Gethsemane

We live in a culture of "easy-believism". Christianity, rather than being a message of being saved from sin to Holiness, has been turned by many into a message of being saved from the consequences of sin so that we may sin all the more. Just be yourself, who am I to judge?

Well, the truth is, I am no one to judge. For every sin I can charge you with, you could charge me with my own. You swear, I swear. You commit adultery in your heart, I commit adultery in mine. You lie, I've certainly told a few whoppers. Greed, lust, envy, pride, hatred, we all suffer from that. Know who doesn't? Jesus. And He can judge you.

There are two kinds of Christians. Those who sin, and those who struggle with sin. No one is without sin. If you say you are without sin, that's two more sins right there: Pride and dishonesty. But what do you think of that sin? Is it something you will to do, and so you do it in spite of Christ, or is it something you hate, and you only do it because you're not yet physically with Him?

For Paul, the answer was obvious. The law of my body is warring with the law of my mind. I sin because it's in my nature, but I don't want to sin. As my old pastor once put it, repentance is about being done with sin, even if sin isn't done with me.

When we think about bearing our cross, we often think of some struggle we have in our lives. I'm depressed, and that's my cross to bear. I'm in debt, that's my cross to bear. I'm an orphan, that's my cross to bear. But when Jesus spoke about taking up our crosses, He did so in a much deeper way, not tied to our circumstances, but to our very hearts. Jesus said that if anyone wants to follow Him, let him deny himself and take up his cross.

To many people, Christianity is just a list of rules. In a sense, it is. That's not all it is, but the struggle with sin is an important part of it. As an old enemy once said to me, "it's ok to not be ok, but it's not ok to stay that way." Christianity is not about being yourself, but denying yourself. It's about conforming to the image of Jesus, and that means that in the war between your mind and your body, your mind must win.

In the first century, carrying one's own cross carried extra significance. It symbolised submitting fully to the authority against which you had previously rebelled. Is this not the perfect picture of Christianity? As sinners, we rebelled against God. As Christians, we must now submit to Him, however difficult it may be. Jesus was so weak that He needed help to carry His cross. He couldn't carry it the full way on His own. In the same way, we need help in our walk. We need help bearing our cross. But we still need to bear it. Christianity is no walk in the park, it is a walk in Gethsemane. A walk to our death to sin.