The Crossroads of the Cross
Life is full of choices. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads with a decision you had to make? Some decisions come with more than two choices. Of course, there are always at least two choices – yes or no. However, sometimes you encounter a situation where you may have so many choices it is difficult to choose.
One who is a believer stands at a crossroads on a daily basis. For one, you decide whether you are going to follow Christ or not.
Picking up your cross and carrying it is a challenging choice within itself. Thinking of the pain or discomfort your decision may bring can be taxing all on its own. You will find yourself at the crossroads of the cross many times in life. Sometimes you may sit there for a while, where other times you find it easier to make the decision. Either way, it is still the cross, and the ironic thing about the cross, as we normally think about it, is that it forms a “T” or cross, where we can go forward, left, or right, giving you choices.
When the world comes falling inward on you, you will find yourself at a crossroads. When you make a poor choice in dating and something like abuse or pregnancy is a result. When you make a poor choice in finances and overdrawn bank account or bill collectors calling is the result. When you or your spouse fails to stay faithful to the marriage and broken trust is a result. When a spouse is not there for you and distance is a result. When a child makes a poor choice and humiliation is a result. When grades are going south and retaking a grade is a result. When the economy is headed downward and job loss is a result. With all of these you find yourself at a crossroads. Fortunately, the cross will still be there, waiting for you to make a decision.
Have you ever felt like life is just handing you a deck of cards where it is full of “bad luck” cards? Around each corner and with each week comes one unfortunate event after another? Or you feel like people are so busy that you have no one to turn to and life is so lonely. You do or have done for others but there is nothing that seems to be coming back your way. You feel spent, tired, worn out, and hopeless. You are at a crossroads. Which way will you turn? The crossroads of the cross is waiting for you to decide which decision you will make.
In so many of life’s journeys we need to find a place of rest. We need a place where we can prop up our feet and clear off our mind. The cross is that beacon in the storm or the oasis in the desert. At the cross there is hope for the hopeless. There is rest for the restless. There is comfort for the discomforted. Rest is available if you make your choice to come to the cross.
Through all life’s journeys and decisions, even though the cross is waiting for you to make your decision, it is also has a more important significance. The cross is still the cross and it is a staple in one’s life to know that God is there. It will stand in the midst of the storm. It will stand in the midst of the crashes. It will stand in the midst of ruins.
What crossroads are you at right now? Is it any of the ones listed as an example? Carrying that burden is most likely weighing you down and wearing you out. You may experience times which you are short-tempered with someone because of the short fuse you have due to the crossroads where you are standing. Come to the cross and make the decision easy by laying your burdens down. They are too heavy to keep carrying them day after day and you are not created to carry them. So, if you are at a crossroads, make the decision to go toward the cross, laying your burdens there.
A couple of paragraphs above, I said the cross was a staple; staples help anchor. May the cross be an anchor when you are at the crossroads! After all, the cross is still the cross!
