Crucified Every Day

By Jerry D. Ousley

            How could He endure anymore?  After being mercilessly beaten, His flesh nearly pealed off by the scourge of the Roman soldiers, then having a crown of long, sharp thorns planted firmly into His skull, He now walked down the street toward the gate that led to the crucifixion hill, Calvary (also called Golgotha) which was just outside the city gates. Some feel that He carried the entire cross, while others just the top crossbeam.  Either way, after all He had been through it was a nearly impossible feat.  After He stumbled and fell, they drafted Simon the Cyrenian to carry it for Him.

            Barely conscience at this point, He was forced to lay down on the cross, and His hands and feet were mercilessly nailed with spikes into the cross beam and the foot rest on the vertical part of the cross.  Now shamefully naked, those executing Him thought no more of Him than a piece of meat as the cross was pulled up.   His body slid against the rough wood splinters and they embedded themselves in his back and buttocks.  Then the cross was dropped with a thud into the hole that had been dug to secure it and His body jarred heavily as the flesh in His hands ripped a bit as it fell in.

            Then, after six excruciating hours of pain on the execution apparatus, He cried, “It is finished,” and bowed His head in death.  This was how Jesus died on the cross.  It wasn’t a silver or gold work of art.  It wasn’t simple and pleasant.  It was probably the worst way to die ever thought up by mankind.

            This was how Jesus died.  But He wasn’t the only one.  It was the accepted form of Roman execution for common criminals.  After they died, they weren’t buried but thrown over the hill and allowed to rot and provide nourishment for the birds of prey.  It would have also been the fate of Jesus had it not been for Joseph of Arimathea who secured His body and placed it in the tomb he had made for himself.

            With this in mind, sometime before His crucifixion, He told His followers, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”  (Luke 9:23).  What?!!!  Who in their right mind would want to do this even once, let alone every day?  How preposterous?  Jesus even went so far as to say, “… he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38).  And Paul wrote, “… I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31).  What is it about the Bible that asks us to take up our cross and die, EVERY DAY?

            Thankfully, both Jesus and Paul are speaking of dying spiritually.  They weren’t necessarily speaking of the horrible pains of being crucified every day in our physical body.  But then again, forcing ourselves to spiritually deny the flesh and die spiritually every day could be just as agonizing because man can only kill the flesh.  Of course, it is a horrible thing and the pain of crucifixion is devastatingly unimaginable.  But beating down the flesh and submitting our sinfulness to God can be, in our spirits, just as horrible.

            Jesus and Paul were telling us that each and every day of our lives we are to go to God and spiritually beat down our desires, our rights, our privilege to follow our free will and do what we want to do, and sacrifice it on a spiritual cross, dying to ourselves.

            But there is also good news.  Out of all those Roman crucifixions only One – Jesus Christ – defeated the death of the cross and arose on the third day.  By doing this He once and for all paid for the sin of man, and conquered the curse of death.  Of course, we will all face physical death unless we are alive when our Lord returns.  But we only have to face that once.  Because of what Jesus did, and the way He conquered sin and death, Paul also wrote, “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’” (1 Corinthians 15:56). Our daily spiritual death is turned into a daily conquering of death.  In Christ Jesus we arise with Him, in Him and because of Him.

            Being crucified every day becomes the greatest victory this world has ever witnessed.  It leads us not just to victory today, but every day, and for eternity.  Take up your cross every day.  Follow Jesus up that horrible hill of death.  But then leave the old man there and arise each day anew in the spirit with the Lord.  He is your victory.  He is your life.  Be crucified and live!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.