Looking Beyond The Cross

By Pat Hodges –

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

“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 12:2).

There comes a time in every believer’s life when there is a “cross” before us that we don’t want anything to do with. As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane “. . . O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me . . .” I can think back over the times in my life when I’ve faced various “crosses,” begging God to eradicate the “cross” or somehow just bypass it all tog-ether. The truth of the matter is God allows us to face these crosses and to experience them from time to time. Some are short lived, while others can last for extensive periods of time. Now I don’t subscribe to the notion that every bad situation is put in our lives by God as a cross. The Word plainly states the enemy comes to us steal, kill, and destroy. There is a marked difference between a cross and the enemy just coming in to wreak devastation and chaos in our lives.

The purpose of the cross is specifically allowed to give us the opportunity to overcome and to conquer a given obstacle. The purpose is not to destroy us. There are times when God delivers us from situations and circumstances and other times He delivers us through situations and circumstances. The delivering through part is what we often seek to avoid.

I want to encourage you to start seeing what lies beyond the cross you may be facing. It makes it a whole lot easier when we can see what is beyond a cross. Your cross may be a relationship that’s going through a fiery test, or it may be a character flaw within yourself that God has allowed to remain to gain victory over or something else entirely.