-Our Cross: Death Of Pride
-By: Connie J. Horn

“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

Some in evangelical circles today would say that one’s “cross” is some particular suffering, such as a chronic illness or the death of a loved one. However, the Bible speaks about a daily cross that is universal to all believers. Where Christ speaks about the “cross,” the context always includes the believer’s daily dying to oneself. “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).

Note our verse for today. It is significant that one of the major factors in this denial of oneself is a willingness to put aside the pride that loves the praise of men more than the praise of God. In fact, the first discourse on the “cross” in Matthew 10, although directed specifically to the apostles, is instructive to us, as well. It includes the admonition, “beware of men” (10:17), and “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (10:28).

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: . . . And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (10:34–38).

Let us determine that we will shoulder the cross of the death of pride daily, “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 1:16), and, like Moses, esteem “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Hebrews 11:26).

ICR/CJH