Take Up Your Cross

Mark 8:34-35 Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, He must deny Himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life with lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Take Up Your Cross
Deep in the heart of the Sawatch mountain range near Vail, Colorado is the Mount of the Holy Cross. It is one of the highest peaks in Colorado and it is famous for its East facing facade which fills with snow and forms a well-defined cross within the mountain. The vertical cross beam stands approximately 1100 feet tall and the horizontal cross beam is around 750 long. First discovered in 1869, it was described to be a sign from God and His promise; a beacon upon the very center and height of the continent to all people and all generations. Samuel Bowles referred to this phenomenon when he said, “Here is a supply store and workshop of creation, the fountain of the Earth.” For many years, people saw the Mount of the Holy Cross as a place of healing. One pastor once took 2000 handkerchiefs from his congregation and prayed for healing for each of the members who gave him handkerchiefs symbolizing their particular needs. Near the foot of the cross structure in the mountain is a lake known as the Lake of Tears.

Colorado is known for its 14ers; the mountains with at least 14,000 feet to the summit. Advanced hikers come from all over the world to hike the trails to the top of the 14ers. The Mount of the Holy Cross is a 14er and a very difficult hike. Many 14ers take at least 8-10 hours to hike to the summit. Before hikers can see the cross in this particular mountain, they must take Half Moon Pass and descend into the Holy Cross valley across East Cross Creek. The trail will then head to the Ridge of the Holy Cross and will follow the rest of the way to the summit. As I read about the Mount of the Holy Cross and its particular trail, I saw the incredible parallelism between this mountain trail and the Christian life of someone who “takes up his cross” and follows Jesus. Following the Jesus Way, often involves descending into the valley and walking through treacherous, rocky paths. However, after putting one foot in front of the other, after much toil and sweat and prayer, we eventually reach the summit—the exaltation, the glorious inheritance that is ours for eternity.

I love how God demonstrates Himself through His creation and tells the very story of the Christian life as a follower of Jesus through a rocky mountain trail. Last week, my family hiked a difficult trail in Colorado. It was not the Mount of the Holy Cross trail, but it was certainly rocky and steep. I had to carefully watch where I took each step so I wouldn’t trip and fall. I became short of breath in the thin mountain air, and even had bouts of altitude sickness. My legs were burning from climbing miles of rocky stairs, but eventually I reached the summit and it was absolutely gorgeous. At the summit there was an incredible waterfall that flowed into a turquoise blue pool of water. As difficult as the hike was, there were also beautiful sights along the way; other waterfalls, rushing rivers and beautiful trees to encourage me to keep going. As we “take up our cross” and follow Jesus, there will be steep inclines, rocky paths and we may run out of breath and have to stop and rest, but He will give us joy in the journey by granting us His presence and He will encourage us as we make our way to the summit. We know that as we follow Jesus, there is no path that He will take us that He hasn’t been before, and we know that our ultimate destination is an eternal summit filled with the glory of God. I am thankful that He does not leave us to walk our life’s journey alone, but He guides us every step of the way.

Take up your cross and follow me
I heard my master say
I gave my life to ransom Thee
Surrender your all today
Wherever He leads I’ll go
Wherever He leads I’ll go
I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so
Wherever He leads I’ll go

Our Great God

Psalm 145 is known as an acrostic of praise written by David. Each verse corresponds with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I love this Psalm because it gives us accurate descriptions of God’s character and His active interest in our lives. In the English language, we can see this Psalm partially divided into two categories: God is_____________ and God does__________________.
The list begins with these descriptions of God. Each of these phrases appears in pairs and most of them are connected by the word “and”, almost as if to imply a continued explanation.
“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.” (v. 3)
“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.” (v. 8)
“The Lord is good to all and has compassion on all He has made.” (v.9)
“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom , and your dominion endures through all generations.” (v.13)
“The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made.” (v. 17)
“The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” (v.18)

The next group of phrases describes the activity of the Lord in our lives. Sometimes David talks about the Lord and sometimes he is actually directs His praise to the Lord Himself. This list begins with the statement:
“The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.” (v.13) The list continues with how the Lord demonstrates His faithfulness to us:

“The Lord upholds all those fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” (v.14)
“You give Your people food at the proper time.” (v.15)
“You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” (v.16)
“The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth.” (v.18)
“He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.” (v.19)
“The Lord watches over all who love Him…” (v.20)

Our Lord is an active God who continually works to fulfill His promises to us. He does it in so many ways; upholding us, lifting us up, providing for us, staying near to us, fulfilling our desires and watching over us. I am so thankful that we serve a Great God! “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom!” (v. 3)

The Concept of Freedom

2 Cor. 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom…”

This verse is comforting to me because it means that we can actually achieve freedom in our souls through the power of the Holy Spirit. Freedom means that things are as they should be. Bondage has been eliminated and restoration has occurred. This past week, I did some graduate work at the McClosky Vocal Institute in Georgia, and we discussed at great length how to achieve “freedom of tone” in the voice. As singers, there are so many elements that prohibit freedom of tone: tension in the face, jaw, tongue, neck and shoulders, incorrect posture and breath support. When all of the tension is eliminated, and there is proper posture and breath support, the vocal tone will be free and resonant. This week, I heard phrases such as “Let the breath be in control…” and “Let the sound happen, don’t force it to happen!” Everything should come easily and naturally, and yet we get in the way of our own freedom of sound by all of the bad habits that we develop in singing.

As I thought about 2 Cor. 3:17, I saw a distinct correlation between “freedom of tone” in the voice and “freedom” as it relates to the Christian life. The key to singing freely is to let the breath control the sound. The Spirit of the Lord is often referred to as the “breath of God”. As His Spirit fills us and controls us, our lives will function more productively and we will experience His leadership and peace. Singing with freedom of tone also involves a great amount of relaxation. It is essential to work out as much tension as possible before uttering a single sound. The more tense we become, the more our vocal sound will be “tight and pinched”. Over and over again, God reminds us in Scripture to rest or “relax” in Him. We need to roll our troubles onto Him and rest in His almighty power to handle our problems and situations. This is much easier said than done, and it is difficult for all of us to do! It is equally difficult to keep our neck muscles, tongue and jaw relaxed when singing and may often take years of practice to achieve relaxation in just one of those areas. But I know for a fact that as those muscles begin to relax, a beautiful and free tone emerges. In the same way, we must trust that as we rest in the Lord, we will have a more peaceful state of mind. The Lord promises to restore us and give us freedom in Him.

Another important aspect of singing with a free tone, is to have proper posture. If the body is not aligned properly, the entire sound can be affected. Even the slightest alteration in posture can greatly inhibit the freedom and ease of the vocal tone. This reminded me of how important it is for us to keep a proper posture before the Lord. As we spend time with Him, He gives us a proper perspective of Himself and how we relate to Him. For God’s Spirit to flow freely through us, we must remain yielded and humble before Him. When His Spirit is in control and flowing through us, we will begin to produce fruit that looks like Him; the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.

We all love to hear a beautiful, free singing voice. It is pleasant and soothing to us. It thrills me to work with a voice student who is learning to break away from tension to create a beautiful, resonant sound. The Lord wants to work with us as well to achieve freedom in our lives. My prayer is that my life will be pleasing to the Lord and will reflect the freedom that He gives me as I rest in Him and yield to Him. A life of freedom is what He desires for us. It is His ultimate goal for our lives. In fact, it was so important to God for us to have freedom, that Christ died to set us free from Satan’s bondage. Since we have already been set free, let us learn to live and walk in the freedom that is ours!