A burden is not a cross - Nee

And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. Matthew 10.38.

A burden is not a cross. Burden is something inescapable; the cross, however, is subject to personal choice and can therefore be avoided. What the first cross in history was, so the countless smaller crosses will be which shall follow afterwards: just as the original cross was chosen by the Lord, so the crosses for today must also be chosen by us. Some people assume that they are bearing the cross whenever they fall into some hardship or encounter some distress. This is not true, however, for these kinds of things may quite naturally happen to any person even if that person is not a believer.

What then is a cross? It must be akin to what the Lord Jesus himself has said: "My Father, . . . thy will be done" (Matt. 26.42). The Lord asks His Father not to answer as He the Son wills, but as the Father wills. This is the cross. To take the cross is to choose the will which the Father has decided.

- Daily Devotional by Watchman Nee

Blessed Burden of the Cross of Christ not a CURSED Burden

(The cross is not a CURSED or BAD burden by choice; it's a good burden by force. Jesus already took it by force. We cast of OUR burden and take HIS burden in love. )

You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand cavilling at it. This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in vain-glory, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; He leads the way in the path of sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if He carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? Charles Spurgeon

"Take up your own daily cross, it is the burden most suited for your shoulder and will prove most effective to make you perfect in every good word and work to the glory of God.”

- Charles Spurgeon

THE Prophets of old were no triflers. They did not run about as idle tellers of tales, but they carried a burden. Those
who at this time speak in the name of the Lord, if they are, indeed, sent of God, dare not sport with their ministry or play
with their message. They have a burden to bear-----‘‘The burden of the Word of the Lord.’’ And this burden puts it out of
their power to indulge in levity of life. I am often astounded at the way in which some who profess to be the servants of
God make light of their work-----they jest about their sermons as if they were so many comedies or farces.
Charles Spurgeon

I. WHAT IS MY PECULIAR CROSS? "He that taketh not his cross."

1. It may be the giving up of certain pleasures or indulgences.

2. It may be the endurance of reproach and unkindness, or remaining in poverty and obscurity for the good of others.

3. It may be the suffering of losses and persecutions, for Christ's sake.

4. It certainly means the consecrating of all to Jesus: the bowing of my whole self beneath the blessed burden of service with which he honors me.

5. It also includes the endurance of my heavenly Father's will with patience, acquiescence, and thanksgiving.

My cross is well, wisely, kindly, and surely chosen for me by my Lord.

It is only meet that I should be made like my Lord in bearing it......
It is not enough to bear a cross, we must bear it after Jesus.

I ought to be thankful that I have only to bear it, and that it does not bear me. It is a royal burden, a sanctified burden, a sanctifying burden, a burden which gives communion with Christ. Charles Spurgeon