As I was typing up the many pages of notes I would use for my weekly podcast sermon, I needed to replace some letters in a name in part of my document with "M-E," so it would read correctly as I recorded. I was trying to use the ’Find & Replace’ command, but it looked a little different in Office 2016 and I did something wrong, which meant I deleted every instance of M-E in the entire 17 pages of my notes. And there was no way to undo it. With a sigh, I worked a little longer on my notes, and then spent a lot of time correcting them the next day just before recording.
When I finished correcting my notes, I started laughing out loud. I was teaching on Galatians 2:20, about being crucified with Christ, and my mistake had caused me to delete every instance of ME in the whole document.
And that is just what taking up your cross and denying yourself and being crucified with Christ is all about. Getting the ME out of everything. That’s what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane on that dark and lonely night, 2000 years ago - He laid down His will. He made His body submit and do the will of our Father in heaven, that we might be given a chance at new life.