Pick and Choose
God has given to each of us, His blood bought ones, the option to choose whether to take up our cross or not. If we choose the former, it is important to realize He has not granted us the choice in picking what that cross will be made of. It is strictly God’s prerogative as to the material, whether it is to be crude bark or soft velvet. No matter, though they are not identical, they’re alike. Both are instruments of suffering.
Many have lived under a cloud of guilt feeling they have not suffered as others. This is mainly brought about by “comparing themselves among themselves,” which, says the Apostle Paul, “is not wise.” We must be careful in listening to testimonies and in reading biographies that we do not hold their experiences for a standard for our own lives. All who name the name of Christ will suffer in one form or another, but the form is of God’s own choosing.
The seemingly softer cross may be coveted by some over their rugged one, but if they were to carry the lighter for just one day, they might find it heavier than their own. Sometimes smaller things are much weightier than the larger.
Let me illustrate: a missionary’s lot in life, along with his lovely wife and healthy children, may be to sleep on the hard cold ground, in a little hut, in some far off foreign land. As he was lying there, he might have desired to be like a wealthy supporter of his, who is tucked away in a nice warm bed in a beautiful home. But he may have second thoughts after entering the room adjacent his well-to-do friend, when he casts his eyes upon the man’s crippled, down-syndrome child.
Who’s to say? Which of the two is greater, physical anguish or mental torment? One thing is for sure, they both crucify their victims!