And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23.
I don’t think much about the cross. I think even less about the cross being a tool of suffering. An execution device that a person would carry to their own slow death. Even less do I think about Jesus’s words calling me, specifically, to deny myself and to take up my cross, not once, but daily.
I think we are pretty comfortable following after Jesus. We easily embrace His command to follow. We are fairly convinced there is no other truth. Lord knows we want to be on the right side of truth. We want a good life. We attend church. We fellowship with other believers. We go to work. We buy stuff. We do a retreat.
We even hesitantly accept the piece about denying ourselves. We try hard to be good. We have our lists of do’s and don’ts. We try to obey the rules…especially when others are watching.
Picking up your cross and denying yourself however, is the call to a deeper life. To give up everything for Christ. To give up everything to Him who gave up everything for us. A call to depend more fully on the One who carries us on our journey.
Let that sink in. Everything.
We don’t need a special message from God to find our cross. They are everywhere. They are you. Your cross is all that radiates from the old man. Our propensities and temptations. The restless pursuit of comfort. Our obsession with solving my problems, your problems. Reaching out to anything and everything to remove discomfort. Discomfort not only from our inner struggle, but also from the struggles in your world. People, work, pressure. You cannot outrun the crosses of life. They are everywhere.
But God has made a way for us to carry our cross. Jesus reminds us His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:29–30). Paul teaches us we have already been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). His cross has already done a work in us so that our cross can be carried. If any man is in Christ He is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). It’s the power of Christ’s cross, not the power of our self-discipline, that empowers us to daily walk our road to Calvary. Crosses don’t get fixed, they get redeemed. Life always springs forth out of death.
In Acts, the disciples were encouraged to continue in the faith, knowing that through suffering, carrying our cross, we will enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). This is true for us today. Living a crucified life in Christ is not a self-improvement program. It is a life hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3).
The Next Question
- Jesus is calling you to come follow Him in a new way. Are you paying attention?