10/26/2026
“Take up your cross and follow me.” Sometimes Jesus just makes me mad. How in the world do I do that!? In an age of unrest, violence, and plague there are too many important issues on which to shine a light . There is so much that should be known and said, and there are too many people throwing out nonsense every where I look. Every day, if I spent a lot of time looking at social media, I could end up in a constant, dizzying, red faced, spiral of rage. My heart pounding in my chest. Pounding my keyboard as if I’m actually poking the other side in the eye with each keystroke. Shouldn’t I stand up and fight the good fight? Shouldn’t I, like Jesus, overturn some tables and whip some miscreants?! Forget about the cross, I want to be in the Temple kicking the cans of some moneychangers!
A couple of years ago, I decided I was seeing too many people on facebook mischaracterizing the miracle of human reproduction. Both sides do it for political reasons, and I just wanted to do a series of cartoons that illustrated the entire wonderful process of baby development. The cartoons were cute and charming, and only highlighted scientific facts about where we come from. I posted the first cartoon on facebook. “Surely,” I thought to myself, “no one could argue pure science!” Holy hot topics, Batman, was I mistaken! Immediately, a chorus of people began writing the most horrid thread of invectives about what they perceived I was doing! Friends whom I’d had known for decades, began sharing the cartoon with like-minded people whom I did not know, and a long list of those folk began a day long attack on my character, and my perceived beliefs. Replies on this thread were so vile and numerous, I had trouble keeping up with deleting the most horrid. I eventually just blocked anyone who was posting anything gross. However, that was not my first reaction. My initial reaction was to do what any good, red-blooded American would do. I fought back! I was never cruel. I never called anybody names. I never was anything but gentlemanly. But I was furious! (People always tell me that I am very even keeled when they work with me, and have a hard time believing I can be angry about anything. That’s true. It takes a lot to get me to show anger. I believe that in a high pressure setting, like the rehearsal of a play, you are always better off being calm and supportive. But everybody has their boiling point, and mine had been reached.) Eventually, I just deleted everything.
I didn’t like myself that day. I was not myself. I was not being the man I normally am. Instead of taking up my cross and following Him, I threw that cross down a gully and went in charging like Peter with a sword! And I was looking for some ears to lop off! The next morning I was reading Matthew 16, and came upon Jesus’ instructions about how we are to follow Him. He is saying, we have to be like Him. What would Jesus do? Do you still have one of those bracelets? Wasn’t I being Like Jesus when I defended truth in my ‘righteous anger’? Wasn’t His driving the sales people out of the Temple an example of how to deal with my anger? To my pride's great dismay, No.
Jesus showed anger at very specific times to very specific people. He NEVER showed anger at the Roman rulers. He NEVER tried to change the minds of people about their oppressive Government. He NEVER became enraged at people who did not agree with Him. He only had harsh words and actions for those who were abusing God’s true intentions for His people. Who were using religion to line their pockets, or control believers. God’s truth is bigger than anything this world has to offer, and Jesus cared very little for anything except the truths of God’s intent for the human race. ALL of the human race. It’s pretty hard to do what Jesus did if you have no idea what He would do.
Do you want to know how we can address these things like Jesus would? Do you want to know what it’s like to ‘take up your cross and follow Me”? Read 1 Peter 2:21-24.
”To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
First, there is no deceit in Him. Know what is true. How many times have you shared something on Facebook that has turned out to be false, or a half-truth? Be sure what you say is true. Beyond that, there are a lot of truths that are important to God that have nothing to do with the ‘truths’ we are willing to die for. Shouldn’t God's truths be most important to you?
Second, when they reviled Him to His face, he did not return hateful words. Never! They were nailing him to a cross, they had beaten him, scourged him, insulted Him, pushed a crown of thorns on His head, and were betting for His clothes as He suffered, but He only said, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do”. He has never called us to be ‘right’, but to be righteous. Those are two very different things.
Third, "he did not retaliate....Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." God knows ALL the truth. He knows where this ends up, and we don't have to worry about being the ultimate judges of what is good or bad. That's God's job. For some reason, in our pride, we think we are the judges. Sorry, you don't have to carry that burden. God can handle it. There is great peace in knowing that God is in control, and He'll be the final arbiter of all of that.
Finally, He died for our sins. Not just for our sins, but for the sins of all people, through all times. Even those people with whom we vehemently disagree. Are the lives of the people who oppose us worth dying for? You bet. Did he die for the N**i sympathizers in Charlotte, or the Antifa members in Portland, or even Donald Trump, or Joe Biden? Yes, without one little doubt. God loves all of them, and sent Jesus to die for them. So, how should we, bearers of the cross and followers of Christ view them? With the loving eyes of God, who sees us as people worth saving at the very cost of His son’s own life.
Take up your cross and follow me…Jesus makes me so mad sometimes, because, sometimes, I would rather live in my anger and hate, but He has never called us to scream our self-righteousness for all the world to see, or to violently fight our opponents. He has called us to truth, and service and love. How can the world see the cross through your anger? They can’t, and you’re going to have to decide what’s more important.
