Thursday after Ash Wednesday
The world has become so disordered to sin, its original logic and design so turned on its head that when God comes into the world as a man He is subjected to suffering and death, rather than adored and loved. It seems that only by this backwards reasoning will the gears of the world be turned back toward God; only will the Cross be sturdy enough to jam the doomsday machine of corruption and save us from being utterly crushed.
Jesus already warned us that following Him meant inevitable suffering, but that inevitable suffering comes with it the promise of everlasting life. This repentance and re-ordering to the Cross of Christ in which we seek first the Kingdom of God is not a once-saved-always-saved event; just as we are free to turn anew we are free to turn away: consider Peter who turned to Christ, who fled Him in the garden, who turned anew in the courtyard only to turn away and back three times. We must turn to Christ daily and follow Him, even should His path lead through the hateful buffets and spitting of the whole world and, finally, to the Cross.
Should we flee the Cross to save our lives? If we do this, if we turn from the Cross that is the sign of our hope, what life will we have except what the world offers which is, ultimately, death? It is only in surrendering our lives to Christ, in losing ourselves, in smashing the idols of our own self-worship that we come, truly, to win eternity, to find ourselves and see the image and likeness of God within.
Rather, embrace the Cross, even at the cost of suffering, for the wealth and favor of the whole world is nothing compared to possessing and being possessed by Christ!
Repentance is a long journey; let us find little ways to embrace Christ and His Cross day-by-day so that just as we suffered with Him, we may rise to new life with Him.