Most
Christian religions use the cross as a symbol of their faith in Christ. I’ve
seen crosses that are empty, crosses showing the suffering Savior, and crosses
of various designs and configurations. All these inevitably identify either the
building as being one of Christian faith or the wearer as one trying to become
more like Christ. I’ve worked with and am friends with many of these good
people and support their efforts of being a disciple of Jesus.
In our
church, The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, we do not generally use
mainstream religious icons, most notably the cross, in order to identify ourselves
as followers of Christ. In his latest conference address, Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland shared several reasons regarding this decision. But the one that most struck me has to do with this quote, shared by Elder Holland from the late
prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. “The lives of our people must be the symbol of our
faith.”
He then
shared this scripture from Matthew, “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.” In searching the scriptures, I found that in quoting this same admonition
Luke 9:23 adds that we take up our cross daily.
As I was
pondering these verses, I began thinking about the different crosses that we
are called to take up. Some of them may be more public, such as declarations of
faith or testimony shared in church, home, or even social media settings.
Others are more privately endured. Elder Holland shared several examples of diverse
trials being experienced on this earth in his address.
For me, some
of the crosses that I’ve had to take up include forgiving those who have
wronged me or seeking forgiveness for things that I’ve done wrong. I’ve
struggled with pride and conversely with extreme bouts of self depreciation. I
often seem to lack patience or trust in God’s timing and in His plan for me.
And sometimes I find it difficult to have faith that His Atonement truly was
for me.
These
crosses are probably shared by many and there are hundreds more that could be
named without hesitation. So why would our loving Heavenly Father have His son
admonish us that we must take up these crosses in order to fully follow our
Savior? Why must we daily struggle with these trials and tribulations that feel
more like heavy weights than heavenly qualifications?
At times
that call to take up our cross seems to run completely contrary to the message
that “Men are that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). We often desire to forget
that Lehi also said, “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all
things” (2 Nephi 2:11). The Savior himself said, “And he that taketh not his
cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38). In order
to be worthy to qualify for eternal life, we must become like Heavenly Father
and Jesus Christ. It is not enough to wear the symbols of our faith, we must
truly be willing to sacrifice to become as they are. As Elder Uchtdorf has
said, “Jesus taught that our offering may be large or it may be small, but
either way, it must be our heartfelt all.” We cannot give our heartfelt all to
the Lord unless we are willing to do as The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob says: “Believe
in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross” (Jacob 1:8).
Ultimately Christ suffered and died
on the cross, all while being reviled and taunted by those standing on Calvary
(Luke 23:35-37). This angry crowd jeered and demanded that Jesus prove himself
by coming down from the cross and saving his mortal life. What they could not
understand was that Christ was not interested in saving only himself. With His
supernal sacrifice, He knew that He would be able to save all mankind, including
those who mocked and scorned. Because He ignored the crowd and stayed true to
the Father’s plan, we have the opportunity now to repent and receive both
immortality and exaltation.
The world still calls for us to symbolically
come down from our crosses. They encourage us to abandon our moral standards,
to cast aside our covenants, and to join them in their revelry. Sometimes the
attacks are more subtle. Like Amalickiah when he was seeking to corrupt the army of
Lehonti, he repeatedly entreated Lehonti to come down off the mountain. But “when
Amalickiah found that he could not get Lehonti to come down off from the mount,
he went up into the mount, nearly to Lehonti’s camp; and he sent again…desiring
that he would come down, and that he would bring his guards with him” (Alma
47:12). Satan aims to lead us with flaxen cords that seem so small and insignificant in the moment, but eventually bind us in a web so tightly wound that freedom seems impossible. He knows that he usually will not be able to entice us to make a sudden plunge into wickedness, and so he begins by encouraging us to come down only a small amount, just as Amalickiah did with Lehonti.
Satan wants us to being to despise
our cross by degrees. He encourages us, metaphorically, the hold onto the cross
but slow our pace on our path toward heaven or even just stop for a moment. Perhaps he entices us to set
the cross down with every intention of resuming our burdens after we’ve rested.
Surely, he whispers to us, God doesn’t intend for us to always be carrying a heavy load. Happiness cannot be found in the midst of such trouble.
However, we know that we must keep
moving forward despite the encouragement of the world to lay aside the things
of God. But it is also true that our burdens can feel heavy, discouraging, and
sometimes impossible to bear.
But I find hope in these two
thoughts. First, Christ has not asked us to die upon our crosses, he has simply
asked us to carry them. Our crosses lead us to becoming more like Him and are
not meant to be a punishment, merely a tool used by a loving Father to help
further craft us in His image. Secondly, Christ has also said, “Come unto me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew
11:28-30).
I love the imagery of being yoked
with Christ. An old-fashioned yoke was intended to fit over a perfectly matched
pair of oxen in order to pull a load. If the pair did not
match each other well both physically and in ability to work, then one of the
animals would end up bearing more of the weight, lessening the effectiveness of
the yoke.
As we think of being yoked with Christ,
there are several thoughts that come to my mind. First, Christ thinks that we
can be a matched pair. He’s not viewing us solely in our mortal fallen state in
which we are unequally either physically or spiritually to Him. Instead, He
sees our potential to become as He and His Father are and so encourages us to
work with Him in order to achieve that goal.
Secondly, the purpose of a yoke was
to carry or move a heavy burden. Jesus knows that He is asking us to do hard
things, and that as we take up our cross that we will labour and be heavy laden, but
He also wants us to know that that is the point of mortality. I often tell my
daughter “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.” Christ knows that we will
stretch, strain, and perhaps even stumble as we pull our load toward heaven,
but He also promises to be there with us as we continue to try our best.
Thirdly, Christ promises us that as
we yoke ourselves with Him we will find rest. It seems counterintuitive that by
taking up a yoke we will find rest, but that is exactly what is promised.
President Russel M. Nelson recently said, “Each person who makes covenants…has
increased access to the power of Jesus Christ…The reward for keeping covenants
with God is heavenly power-power that strengthens us to withstand our trials,
temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way…Thus covenant
keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest that comes to them through their
covenantal relationship with God.”
The crosses in our lives will never
be easy to bear, but if we truly allow ourselves to be yoked with Christ, then
we can find both power and rest as we continue to move forward along our paths.
Paul said, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
We know what awaits us if we too
endure our cross. Let us be like those whom Nephi described as righteous- “they…
endured the crosses of the world [and] they shall inherit the kingdom of God”
(2 Nephi 9:18).
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