Often when we think of taking up our cross, it is to do and not to do certain things. i.e. Avoid movies and TV; don't read this or that book; don't overspend, etc. While these are good things to do or not to do, it doesn't deal with the inner man. Externals never change the inner man; it only retrains him/her to form habits. However, we will find that even habits are subverted by the temptations and the willfulness of that inner man.
A Jew is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, says Paul. Change the inner man and the outside will be clean as well. So what is to be done? Only one thing can solve this: circumcision of the heart. That is the joy of the cross, the commitment of our hearts to the Lord Jesus in a complete cutting off from the old man and an embracing of this new man, the circumcised inner man.
Only the Holy Spirit can enable a person to do this. We read the words, we desire it, we ask for it. But we must submit ourselves to God in our souls and draw near to Him. Then as we continue to have this attitude, we will find that we will enter into a newness of mind and spirit. And Jesus does not leave us as orphans. He will give us the Holy Spirit when we respond. And those He has been given He will not lose, for not anyone can snatch us out of His hand; He promises eternal life for those who hear His voice.
Circumcision of the heart is the first step to embracing the joy of the Cross, rather than simply embracing the death that the Cross brings, for who can embrace death without the promise of resurrection? And so the Cross is about circumcision first.
Listen, desire and ask. He will give it to you if you ask from the humility of your heart.
