Marks of the Cross

The last couple days several topics have come to mind for me to write on, however, last night after church one of my favorite songs of old stuck in my head.  Then I came home and listened to the song and grabbed a devotional I had not read in a long while (More Power to Ya, The Petra Devotional, by Bob Hartman).

The song is called “Marks of the Cross” by the group “Petra”.  I have enjoyed Petra’s music since I was very young, and all of their music is inspired by the scriptures. I obtained the devotional many years back and it has a devotional message (52 of them) that goes along with each song from most of their albums up to that point in time.

I read the devotional for the song “Marks of the Cross”.  Mr. Bob Hartman the founding member of Petra wrote the devotional, and the first sentence is a very powerful statement, “Jesus tells His disciples that the greatest evidence that they belong to Him is the love that they have for each other”.  He used John 13:35 as his main verse that inspired this song, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”.

I have continued over the years to be discouraged at how we all go to church, smile and shake everyone’s hand and make small talk in church.  Then we leave the church and do not see our brothers and sisters in Christ until the next service or church meeting, when we do it all again.  I have attended a church where I asked others to do events together outside of church, and was told the Pastor had to approve it before they could do anything outside of the church with church members, really!

Hopefully everyone reading this has some really good friends, ones that you invite over to your house for a meal or a movie.  You invite friends over to hang out at your house because you have something in common, and get along together, hopefully.  You build bonds with those friends and spend time not at work, church, etc. with them.

If you are married and have a family,  you may have another family that your entire family is close with, and do things with.  Are these friends Christians? Do they go to your church? Do you not want to “hang out” with anyone from your church for some reason.

In John 13:34, our Lord tells us ” A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”.  I am not saying that you should not have friends outside of church and your Christian circles.  But, in this verse our Lord states this is a Commandment that we love one another, as he loved us.

He suffered torture and punishment we will never understand, He had all the power, and He gave it all up to take all of our sins we have ever done, or ever will, on Himself, and die for our sins.  He walked among us and picked His friends and followers, whom He spent all the time, day and night, that he could with.

While on this earth Christ walked among us and taught us how we should be as His children, he taught us to Pray (Matt. 6:9), to care for one another (John 13:14-17), to share and give (Charity) (1 Cor. 13:1-4, 8, and 13), bearing (2 Cor. 4:10 and Heb. 13:13), feeling (John 11:35) and most of all to love, (Matt. 22:37, Matt. 22:39, Mk 12:30, Lk 6:27-35, Jn 10:17, Jn 13:34-35, Jn 15:9-10).

There are so many verses to show the love our Lord displayed toward us and taught us to demonstrate to others.  This song has all the above traits listed, detailing them as constituting the marks of the cross.  Of course the song also points out something that has been in many recent contemporary Christian songs as reckless abandonment.  The song points out that we are to be daring to lay down our lives, to suffer the loss, for the marks of the cross.  The song states there is “no crown ’til we suffer the cross” (Gal 5:11, 6:12, 2Tim 4:8, James 1:12, Rev 2:10 and Rev. 3:11)

I have had some great Christian brothers and sisters through the years, that my wife and I have enjoyed the fellowship of having them as friends.  I know my wife and I have tried our best to exhibit these marks of the cross and come short many times, but I find it amazing that as much as charity is mentioned, that one seems to be under practiced.

Many of the churches I have attended focused on tithes for church operations and missions, which we are to preach the gospel and save sinners (Mk 16:15), but as I showed in the verses above, our Lord placed a major emphasis on charity, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Cor 13:13. Many translate this word to mean love, but is charity not part of love toward others. Likely why the KJV translators placed charity here instead of love, to make it more impactful.  Myself as a Baptist feel this is one mark of the cross the Baptist denomination does not get right, but many other denominations do, such as the Methodist, which place a huge emphasis on charity.

I will always remember when I was in Kosovo, those that remember when we as the U.S. Military went into Kosovo, I was part of the initial force into the country.  The country was left crippled as far as infrastructure, the poverty and living conditions were not well. I felt like I was actually living in a city in the old testament. The first crisis/aid group I saw on the ground there was a Methodist group (UMCORP), and the compassion they showed for the people was so great. The looks of overwhelming gratitude and joy of the people was something I will never forget.  The salvation message was also being spread.

I am a student of history, including church history. I find it interesting the American first Great Awakening with Rev. Jonathan Edwards and Rev. George Whitefield gets attention, but the second Great Awakening when the dominate religions in America at the time, Baptist and Methodist, had their wide spread revivals.

I often think what an awesome church it would be if we took the Baptist fervor for Salvation and Missions, and the Methodist fervor for Charity and Compassion and combined them into one church.  I feel our Lord and Saviour made a point to show us by his actions here on the earth, that we are to have compassion and charity to those around us.

I watched the “War Room” movie finally last week. I think that movie applies to this topic as well. Would it be great if every experienced Christian Elder searched out someone to mentor in Christ and help guide them through life, and help them on their walk with the Lord.

One of the last chorus verses of this song is “These days the search for detachment and solitude lead to retreating to fortresses no one would dare intrude.  Then there are those whose restless burdens start to show, those who unmistakably must know there’s no crown ’til we suffer the cross.”  If someone was to look at you, do they see the battle hardened “Marks of the Cross”, or do they just see another person.  In Christ.