This passage seems to have two parts. The first concerns our willingness to carry our cross, and the second is a little more challenging in that we are asked what value we place on eternal life.
In examining the first, let's consider crosses. I'm sure we look around and sometimes wonder if other people suffer?
It can look so easy from the outside for the rich or the famous. However, even the rich and the famous get sick, lose loved ones and sometimes, suffer from losing the very things that make them either rich or famous!
It is said that the stock market crash of the nineteen twenties made many of the rich poor. Scandals in recent years have turned the famous to infamous. It only takes a single injury illness to turn a sports hero into an ordinary man or woman.
Everyone has a cross to bear. If we really could see what others are suffering, we would most likely be content with our own.
There is a saying, "I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet." There is always someone who is worse off than we are.
As to the second part of this passage, we have other questions to consider. Are we willing to give up eternal life to pursue a goal using immoral or illegal means to get what we want?
There was a play written by Christopher Marlow in the fifteen hundreds about a man named Dr. Faustus who made a deal with the devil. It didn't go so well! But we have the same choices to make in our life when we are offered a chance to win if we are willing to cheat.
Over the years, sports stars have been toppled and school sports have suffered because of the illegal use of steroids. Students have lost their scholarships because of cheating on tests. People have been promoted because they lied about colleagues.
Is losing eternal life worth it?
