Matthew 27:32
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
I wonder if Simon the Cyrene was a believer.
In light of the recent FB melt-down of a common friend to me (JW), it was mentioned in a post from a person who is not a covenanter that the burden to carry the cross that he felt being a covenanter brings, the man snapped under pressure and abandoned the faith-literally cursing Jesus.
It is true, that if Simon was not a believer, he would have been relieved upon ascending to Golgotha, to cast off that cross! For the covenanter, it is not physical strength that compels us. It is not might we use per se, but by God’s Spirit do we continue. I recall years ago a pastor saying that ‘patience will get the true self to eventually reveal itself’. Time will ultimately sift the wheat from the chaff. The idea of purity and law keeping, in light of our gift of justification is not a burden. In 1 John, it reads:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”
It is always sad seeing this type of thing occur-especially when we see a man or woman pursuing a righteous life in Christ and then the crash. In this case, this man showed fruits, but then, all at once, they went rotten. This should cause us all to fear. We should tremble in the midst if this. Who’s next?
1 Cor 10:12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.