Take Up Your Cross

The cross was a place of horrifying beauty. Horrifying in the realization that MY sins along with the sins of the world nailed Jesus to that cross. The beauty comes from the astounding, unfathomable LOVE that Jesus said "Yes" to and that He IS.

 The loveliness of this cross before you represents what happens when YOU take it up and follow Him: the flame color represents His promise to burn up all that is not of Him, which in turn will cause a Holy Fire for His Word to burn within you. Like Jeremiah, you cannot contain it; "it is a FIRE shut up in my bones." (Jeremiah 20:9)

 The dark red in the middle represents that His blood, not yours, is what gives you access to the Father, who by the way, loved YOU so much that He sent His own Son Jesus to die for you. (John 3:16)


The blood is in the middle of the cross to remind you that you can be in the center of God's will. And finally, the swirls represent our very present Helper, the Awesome Holy Spirit Who, in His most magnificent power, raised Jesus from the dead.