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“Living For Jesus Means Carrying a Cross”
Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”
 

“Hello, my name is Pride.  I am the most gifted person you will ever meet.  I am extremely intelligent. I am extremely handsome.  I am usually the best at whatever I attempt to do.  I always win, always come out ahead, and always get what I want.  Yes, the world really does revolve around me.  What’s my name?  My name is Pride.”
 
Now that you’ve met this character called “Pride”, what do you think of him?  If you were to meet someone like this, I think that it would be natural to want to stay as far away from him as you can get.  No one wants to be around someone who is constantly bragging about themselves, a person who thinks that they are “better than” everyone else.  Such a person has no compassion or love for anyone else except themselves.  They are “arrogant”.
 
The real problem with such a person, however, is that no matter how much we try to stay away from him, he can be hard to get rid of.  Why?  Because  sometimes we are the character called “Pride”.  Do you ever feel that you are entitled to something better?  A better job, a better relationship, better health?  As a Christian, do you ever feel that God should be giving you all good life experiences?  That’s “Pride”.
 
The bible tells us that if we want to get rid of “Pride”, we need to “take up the cross”.  That means realizing that what we are really entitled to is condemnation.  Yet, the God of grace and mercy has given us salvation.  Our Savior took up his cross for us.  Instead of being condemned, we are forgiven and saved.  That’s why we can willingly “take up every cross” that life may place in our way.  We, therefore, boast, not about ourselves, but “in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
 
Pastor Raymond Kimbrough