Staying On The Throne

"In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne 'til he puts himself on the cross.  If he refuses the cross he remains on the throne.  Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today.  We want to be saved but we insist Christ do all the dying.  No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying.  We remain king among the little kingdom of Mansoul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility.

"If we will not die then we must die, and that death will mean the forfeiture of many of those everlasting treasures which the saints have cherished.  Our uncrucified flesh will rob us of purity of heart, Christlikeness of character, spiritual insight, fruitfulness; and more than all, it will hide from us the vision of God’s face, that vision which has been the light of earth and will be the completeness of heaven."

--AW Tozer, The Radical Cross

How do we help?—how do we hinder?—our children in accepting the cross in little ways, each day, as they are little?  How do we encourage them remaining on the throne?  As they grow older, are they becoming increasingly acclimated toward the cross?  Or are they staying on the throne?  What example do they see in us?

We were in aspen woods today.  My sister-in-law showed us how to "play" tree-tipping.  Even very tall aspens could be pushed over if their roots had not gone down deep, if they had turned lifeless.  Pressure, and they would come tumbling to the ground with a crash.  Even so are we, if our roots do not go down deeply into life in Christ, if He has not made them strong underground and fruitful above.