At the foot of the cross, Christ looks down to us. He is beaten, bloody, worn, and tired. He has undergone betrayal, being sentenced to death, a brutal beating, then He had to carry His cross a long way, just to be nailed to the very wood that He had journeyed with. Yet He wasn’t on that cross for some crime that He had committed, but for the crimes, for the sins of others. He was selfless in the way that He laid His life down. He looks at us from that high but humble cross, not even for a second does He regret the decision that He had made.

As selfless as He is, He asks one thing from us, one thing alone. That we stay with Him. That isn’t too hard, I can stay in one place, I can stay here. Yet when life comes and takes us off our feet, then sin comes and tempts us, where do we turn? Do we run and flee? Or do we throw ourselves into the barren earth persistent to stay at His feet?

I don’t know about you but there have been many times in my life, where I have run the other way. Where I have let life come and carry me with it, believing that God is too big for my problems, that He can’t handle my struggles. Yet this year especially has taught me that I am too little for my problems, that I can’t handle them alone. When I try to bottle up my struggles I am being very prideful, saying that I can handle these and I only want God to have the good in my life.

When Christ came down from heaven, he didn’t just experience the luxuries of life, but experienced pain, sorrow, torture, and death. He struggled with the same things we struggle with, Satan even tempted Him, the Son of God! I have encountered many students who think that they are alone in their suffering and think that suffering is for nothing. Yet I explain to them that through Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection He made suffering into a beautiful thing. Christ is ready with open arms to lift our burdens, to strengthen us in the areas we are weak, and to set us free from our sin.

The next time when trials come, be bold! Plant yourself at the foot of the cross, knowing that you do not have the strength to do it on your own, but it is Jesus who gives you strength. “Will you stay with me?”

-Martha Lapain