String Cross Witness - Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Contributed by: Jay T. Basinger & David Goodrich
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them of your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates as a retired gym teacher I became purpose driven a few years ago. David, another camp volunteer taught me to make “Christian String Cross Necklaces” which he gave to each summer camper as a gift and symbol of God’s love and forgiveness for each of us. Most campers were pleased with the gift. Others just put it in their pocket, forgot it or lose them along the paths of life.
David’s leukemia is in remission now but, he still makes String Crosses by the thousands to give to whomever he encounters. Each Cross takes 4 minutes and cost about 4¢ to make. What would you do with it if you were given one?
I was inspired by David and decided to take up the
String Cross Necklace as my purpose and mission for Christ. Shouldn’t one quietly and humbly bear Christ’s Cross hidden in his or her heart? Would it be an act of arrogance and false pride to wear such a symbol for others to see? Or could it be a reminder for others and ourselves to reflect and radiate the love of Christ to those around us?
Moses told the Hebrew people to remember God’s love for them using phylacteries and mesuzots as symbolic reminders of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The apostle Paul condemned the Ephesian silversmith, Demetrius, for making silver shrines to the Godess, Artemis. God’s love is not manifest in man made symbols, but within the spirit of our souls. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is not a man made symbol.
How will you bear the Cross that Christ gave you in his sacrifice for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins? Secretly, humbly, quietly, symbolically, superficially, courageously, actually or radiantly? By Grace, He loves us. How will you remember?
Thought for the Day: How do you carry Christ’s Cross?