THE TWO SIDES OF THE CROSS-How to Survive the Rough Side of the Cross (Part1)

Surviving the rough side of the cross is the toughest side of the Christian pilgrimage, this is a stage of make or break. You either come out of this phase bitter or better. The rough side of the cross is part of our Lord Jesus Christ’s grand plan for each of his followers; He said in Mathew_16:24 (KJV) “ 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.” This is where the fiercest battle of our Christian walk is waged, so us to subdue the flesh - our number one hindrance to the glory on the other side of the cross. 

Satan with all his arsenal cannot win the battle against any believer without the cooperation of his flesh; the rough side of the cross is the place of mortification of the flesh and its counter-productive tendencies. Having come into this understanding Apostle Paul reaffirms this uncomfortable, yet productive plan of the Lord, when he said in Romans 12:1  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” There are several examples of how those who have gone ahead of us survived this phase of their walk with God 

Our father Abraham survived it, Joseph survived it, Daniel survived it and the most important of all the survival stories is the fact Jesus Christ also had his fair share of it, to show us the pattern of survival. For us contemporary Christians to survive our rough side of the cross, we must take note of the following:

1.      Watch out for offence – Someone once said to me several years ago that “once you have a toe, someone will step on it, and because others also have toes you will also step on theirs” so the truth is once you relate with people you are bound to be offended and you are also likely to offend someone. Jesus Christ, in his bid to caution his disciples about the negative effect of offence said in Mathew_18:7 (KJV) “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! “ . I was asked by someone  “does it mean we should go about offending each other haphazardly and deliberately” and my answer to the person was a big “NO”, 

      we must not go about doing that and the same scripture gave a warning in the verse 7B of Mathew 18 “but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” and the fact that the same bible asked us to look out for the interest of others according to Philippians  2:3-4  (KJV) “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” 

    If we are to look out for the interest of others, we wouldn’t go about hurting people’s feelings and making things difficult for them. However, having a proactive approach towards offence and its hurtful baggage, is the surest bet in dealing with it. Great destiny and dreams were unable to survive the nurturing stage due to offence that was caged by unforgiveness.

2.      Learn to Forgive and Let Go – One of the greatest signs of Christian maturity is when you have the chance to pay back those who have persecuted and despitefully used you, yet you choose to forgive them and let go. Forgiveness is a necessary virtue we will pick up along the rough side of the cross: it is one of the surest sign of a maturing Christian. Joseph, after having being sold to slavery by his own biological brothers, had the power to pay them back for the evils they have done to him, but he rather chose to forgive them 

     according to the account in Gen 45:4-8 (KJV)  “ And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” 

      From slavery to Potiphar’s House down to the hole of the Egyptian prison, Joseph via his devotion to God came to the realization that holding unto the wrong others have done to him was not worth his energy, but he rather chose to forgive them. In Jesus’ effort to communicate this spiritual reality to his disciples, he was asked a question- “how many times should one forgive when offended, Jesus replied by saying “…………………… Seven times?"  "No, not seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy times seven,” Mathew 18:21 -22 (GNB). 

     The answer Jesus gave seems almost impossible to do from human point of view; the most difficult part of forgiveness is the call to keep on forgiving when the offender keeps on offending you deliberately and unabatedly. How will one keep on forgiving a partner who deliberately keeps on offending you? It will take the grace of God, to do this. No wonder the disciples, having seen the impossibility of the charge, asked for help by saying   “…………. Increase our faith.” Luke 17:5(KJV). Increment in faith is equivalent to maturing in faith, and it is only by the help of the Holy Spirit that we can achieve this. 

    Anytime you are finding it difficult to forgive those who have offended and keep on offending you, the only way out is to take it to God in prayer “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippian 4:6-7(KJV).It is only in prayer that Jesus Christ found empowerment to carry the cross, and it is only in prayer that we can be empowered to win the forgiveness battle as we are go through the rough side of the cross. 

      Recently some brethren, Holy Ghost filled and tongue-talking ones to be precise, set out to attack and disgrace me without any provocation. My only offence was I had resolved to hold unto the Christian core values I have come to believe in. This fellow Pastors chose to attack me and disgrace me in public just because of my stance on what I believe to be right. The offence was so hurtful to the extent that it got to my skin and I almost reacted badly. 

    The painful thing about this rough side of the cross encounter is that I expected this fellow pastors to know better, because they have been in the faith long before me. After speaking to God and other matured Christians I noticed that, although Satan was using them to get me stuck in the mud of offence and bitterness, God used it to move me to another level of maturity. I have just been reminded again that the inability to forgive those who offend us, will cut us off from the grace to grow in maturity.

“Longevity in the faith is not necessarily a sign of Christian maturity, but one’s ability to grow into Christlikeness is “

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK WITH THE SUB TOPIC -“How to Survive the Rough side of the Cross Part 2”

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