We wear them around our necks, on bracelets, get tattoos of them. Jewelry stores sell them. Crosses. Though they have become fashionable, they were anything but fashionable in Jesus’s day…and in Old Testament times.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

Galatians 3:13 ESV

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, ESV) To follow Jesus is to deny yourself. Lent is a season of self-denial. And what you might discover is how self satisfying you have become. The world tells us that self-esteem is our ultimate aim. “If it feels good, do it.” “Follow your heart.” These mantras become mandates for the masses. On the other hand Jesus says to follow him is to deny yourself. But how?

Take up your cross daily. Be clear that a cross is not a heavy burden. The cross was an instrument of death. The cross didn’t exist to inflict pain (the beating with the cat o’ nine tails was more than sufficient in inflicting pain on Jesus). The cross was execution. To take up your cross is to daily die to your self, your sinful desires, your selfish pursuits. And this is to be a daily exercise. Why? Our sinful nature rises to the sinful occasion every chance it gets. Paul wrote.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Romans 7: 21-24, ESV

Have you ever felt that way? Maybe you feel this way on the second day of Lent. You’ve decided to do one thing and you so want to do another. You feel wretched! Don’t miss Paul’s final question. It isn’t “what will set me free” but “who?” We are set free by Jesus, who died in our place so that when we die to self, he lives through us! As we anticipate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, we do so with a hope that our daily dying is seasoned with eternal life. That saying no to ourselves is saying yes to Jesus.

It’s Day two. Keep dying. You’ll find life. That’s a promise.