Just this past weekend, while I was driving in Bowling Green, I saw two men carrying crosses on the side of the road, followed by a crowd of about 30 or 40 people. As I passed these two men, I looked at the crosses they were carrying and I couldn’t help but notice that both crosses were accessorized with wheels!
Now, I understand why they placed wheels on these crosses. The wheels make the crosses they are carrying easier to carry. The wheels make the crosses more convenient to bear. But that’s the impetus for this article. You see, there’s nothing convenient about a cross! In fact, it was designed to be an inconvenient, excruciating, and humiliating means to kill someone. Convenient crosses? They don’t exist…or at least shouldn’t.
If I can jump from what I saw this past weekend to a spiritual application, I would say that from the looks of things, I believe that many people have attempted to put “wheels on their cross.” Remember that Jesus said that in order to be one of his disciples, one must be willing to deny himself, take up a cross daily, and follow him (Luke 9:23). From what I’ve witnessed in some, rather than denying self, and bearing one’s cross daily, some have attempted to accessorize their cross. Unwilling to reject Christ completely, they have attempted to fashion a cross of convenience – crosses with wheels.
Our society has made an icon out of the cross. We wear them around our neck, they dangle from our ears, and they are even tattooed on our bodies. This all makes me wonder if we have failed to comprehend the true significance of the cross. The cross represents selflessness, sacrifice, obedience, dedication, and self-denial. Do you think most people realize that? The cross is more than a piece of jewelry or a trinket, and it certainly doesn’t have wheels.
My advice to those who wish to gain public attention by carrying a cross…take off the wheels! Those wheels are incongruous with the message of the cross. I for one, noticed the wheels, not the cross. Don’t lessen the burden of the cross by accessorizing it with something that makes it convenient. What do you think?
I agree, I just a man in Perrysburg yesterday morning and the first thing I noticed was the wheel and not the cross. As soon as I drove by, I was thinking to myself, “Jesus’ cross had no wheels to help him climb the hill.” Discipleship is much harder than this!