carrying the cross

daily devotion from pastor Greg Lorry.

Our scripture reading today is from Matthew,

Matthew chapter 16 verse 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples,

if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

Pilot had done his dirty work.

A garrison of soldiers gathered around Jesus and began to mock him.

They called him a king and put a robe around his shoulders.

And then they took a crown of thorns and pressed it into his head. They also gave him a reed for a scepter and then struck him with it.

Little did these soldiers know how easily Jesus could have gotten out of that situation.

His armies were on standby. Angels were there, no doubt with swords drawn, just

waiting for the word from Jesus. Remember, when Simon Peter tried to defend Jesus with a sword in the Garden of

Gethsemini, Jesus told him to put it away. He said, don't you realize that I could

ask my father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly.

In case you're wondering how powerful an angel is, the Old Testament tells us that one angel

killed 185,000 of Israel's enemies.

Therefore, thousands of angels could no doubt do some serious damage.

Jesus, however, took the beating.

He took the abuse.

He took the mockery.

This is why he had come.

It's why he was born in Bethlehem. The wise men

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