Him they compelled to bear His cross. Matt. 27:32.

There are many Christians of whom this is true. They are compelled to bear the cross, but how does it come? It comes by their running away from it. They make up their minds they won’t have Christ’s cross; and they find when the cross does come that it comes in a more terrible form, with a more crushing weight than ever it would have come had they only been content to submit themselves to the divine direction; for the cross has to come to ail who are to be prepared for glory here after.

—W. Hay Aitken

Thoughts for the Quiet Hour.