No Cross, No Crown

Before you read this post I encourage you to first listen to the song "No Cross, No Crown.” by Vickie Winans. In this song she reminds us that all of us have our own cross to bear in our personal life journey. She associates friends letting you down and being talked about with the cross we must bear to gain our crown. In one part of the song she even asks the question, “Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free?" I have known this song way before I could relate to the lyrics. But its meaning still reigns true today, we all have our own cross to bear if we are hoping to gain our crown.

But in bearing your own cross have you carried the weight of it for so long that you believe no one else could bear it?  Your shoulders know how heavy it is and your hands have felt where all the rough jagged places are that you protect others from fully knowing your cross? Do you expect that it is your cross alone to deal with and it would be unfair to allow someone to take on your load while maintaining their own?

I ask you these questions because I had to ask myself the same thing. I always assumed that I guarded myself from others for my protection which in reality is part of the reason but I also guard myself for their protection as well. I began telling myself years ago that I can’t expect a man to take on being with a bald girl, it comes with a lot of extra baggage.  To accept or ignore the stares, laughter, and whispers. To be able to answer all questions about my condition with a reassurance that it was ok to be curious so that the person doesn’t feel awkward or rude. That took years to master and I have accepted my role, but I couldn’t trust that a man would willingly want to accept all those requirements just to play the leading man role.

So I didn’t, and it shows in my interaction with people mainly men. There is a side that many don’t see because I put on that everything is fine. I have this “I got it” attitude so that no one ever has to worry about me. But even though in the song she sings about Jesus bearing the cross alone, Jesus himself actually had help. In Luke 23:26 it says, “ Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.” Jesus was heading to Calvary and receive assistant with bearing his cross, so why would I believe my cross was just my own to bear?

This realization floored and humbled me. What I assumed was the best solution for everyone is actually limits on me and limiting certain relations with others. And so as I’m growing to change this mindset, I have to challenge you also. What cross are you bearing? Do you feel it is only yours to bear? I ask that you first talk it over with God and I mean be completely honest with him. He already knows but the realization hits you in the moments of vulnerability with him. And as you allow him to change your mindset he will give you the courage to allow the vulnerability there in our relationships with people. Our relationships with others requires our transparency and vulnerability cause in this is where we find our strength and freedom. Let’s begin to bear our cross the correct way so that we can begin to earn our crown.

-Krowning Glory