Comparing the Cross

Theres a statement people say “You choose how your day is going to go”, you choose the attitude you’re going to have. I have felt that fact very significantly especially going through trials. Although emotions can be so overwhelming that you do feel like you’re suffocating – you do feel like you don’t have control. It is truly all about perspective. For instance, living in a hospital with nurses and security guards and janitors – they become the people that you have conversation with. You can choose to dwell on the fact that they are your social life. They are the only people you talk to every day, or you can dwell on the fact that you can experience new relationships of very unique people – people who see grief every day. The wealth of knowledge and wisdom they have on any given day is huge.

But then you say – it’s not as easy as you think!! And yes, I agree. It’s not easy. But, the key is: Look to the cross. Always, look to the cross. The thing is, you and I have a major problem – we are human. We look at things through a human lens. It is really easy to compare God to yourself. It’s easy to compare the cross to your own experiences. During my own grief, I had a big issue with the fact that Christ never had children – He never had to go through the loss of a child, the disease of a child – He never had children! He never had the love of a child on this earth. I tried to use that very fact to justify why I was complaining. After talking to my husband about it, and hearing myself talk, it was shocking when I stepped back and thought ‘It’s not just about the actual  THING Jesus did or didn’t do on this earth – he died, he was raised, he lived a life” It’s not just about that – it’s about WHY He did it, HOW He made it through, and the driving force behind it all. He wanted to put himself lower than us, even though He was God – and then on top of that huge fact, He allowed himself to be murdered on our behalf. Not just to die, but to be tortured for hours on end. He did that FOR people – the people that mocked and scorned Him, even when He didn’t deserve it. So let’s take 30 years plus years of temptations, suffering, living in a body – everything that sums up this worldly life, and yet He didn’t sin. He didn’t use super power to not sin, He chose to be a human, like you and I, and not sin. If I was in His shoes, and I knew I would die for enemies – what would be the point?  I personally would be asking every day “Well what’s the point? I’m dying for my enemies – why go through this temptation? Why not give in? They won’t appreciate it anyway!” He could have given up at any point – He knew how bad the future was, but He chose to look at the good and save the world.

Back to my first point about choosing our attitude – let’s go back to comparing the cross. When you compare your suffering to that it makes you feel so tiny. When you try to think of grief in a human perspective, it will eat you alive like a disease. If you try and look at your life and say “I don’t deserve this, this isn’t what I expected” and you allow yourself to wallow in your grief – you’ll become suicidal. You’ll lack motivation. You will lack joy.  You’ll get exhausted. You won’t have a way out.

If you look at it through God’s eyes, as God says “Consider it all joy” when you experience hard things. Be joyful because there’s more to this life than negative. There’s more to this life than grief. If Jesus only thought of the negative, you and I would have no hope. He switched his perspective, and therefore we are saved today. His self control brought us here – we can now have self control in the face of even less suffering than He went through. 

We have to think through things with God’s lens. How do I do that? Become immersed in His word all the time. Be prayerful with Him – have conversations with Him. Let him be your guide! Having others advise and guide you can be helpful – but only if they point you to God. Remember, the human lens is only useful if it’s through God’s perspective! That can go for self help books, friends or family – as soon as you put them above God, you’re looking at grief through a human lens. Even if you talk to somebody who has been through something you have, or worse, they are still human. They have been in the pit of despair just like you. You have to look to God, you have to surround yourself with people who look to God. He is the solution! It’s all about perspective. It’s all about deciding today that I am going to look at my life through God’s perspective. I will see the joy. I will see the blessings in hardships, and I am going to decide not to look through human lens.

This takes effort. This is hard. It takes strength! You think you’re strong, and then you meet this decision head on. God gives us the strength to lean on him. He gives us the strength to think positively. By the way, when you think positively, you feel positive. When you think about all the good things, you feel happy. It is cause and effect. It will change you, if you allow it to. When you let go, God will take over. I say this because I’ve been here – over and over again. 

It is up to you. You can take control of your day. You can choose to compare the cross, and look through our Creator’s lens.