Take Up Your Cross
“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24
Commitment to Christ is not to be taken lightly. We can think back to Matthew 10:37 where Jesus said that those who love their kinfolks more than they love Him were not worthy of Him. He also said at that time that whoever was not willing to take up his or her cross and follow Him was not worthy of Him. What Jesus was telling us in this passage in Chapter 16 was not new information. Rather, Jesus was reinforcing the most basic and important qualification in being a disciple, and that was to put Him first. The only way to put Jesus first in a person’s life is for that person to remove himself or herself from first place and allow Christ to have that honor. The sin nature that every person possesses when he or she comes into the world is a very selfish nature. To follow Christ with one’s whole heart is to deny oneself.
What does that mean to “deny oneself”? That old sin nature, or the “flesh” as scripture calls it, embodies the pride of man, the very pride that God abhors. God does not desire for man to hate himself. On the contrary, God intended for man to love others as he loves himself (Matthew 2:37). We love ourselves because we are created in God’s image. However, our love for Christ should be greater than love for others or for ourselves. A simple acrostic might help us to understand what we need to eliminate in our lives in order to follow Jesus’ admonition to deny ourselves. D stands for DESIRES that are earthly, sensual, and selfish. E stands for EFFORTS at making a name for ourselves by various means. N stands for the NOTION that it’s all about me and mine, and Y stands for putting a heavy focus on YOURSELF and YOUR plans. When we live selfish, self-centered lives, it gives Satan access into our lives to control us and to lead us away from following Christ. To deny ourselves is to put up a roadblock against Satan and open the door to the blessings of God.
However, there is more than just denying our selfish pursuits. We are to take up our cross and follow Christ. Many folks believe that bearing a cross means suffering with a disease or dealing with difficult family circumstances, but this is not what Jesus meant by “taking up one’s cross”. A cross represents what we are likely to endure and suffer because we are a follower of Christ. Whatever trials and persecutions we suffer for Christ serve to make us stronger and more mature in the faith. The phrase from the world of exercise and workouts is also appropriate as we endure hardships and suffering for Christ’s sake: “no pain, no gain.”
Another acrostic might be beneficial in understanding taking up one’s cross. C stands for the need to COUNT THE COST involved in a commitment to Christ. R is to RESOLVE TO RESIST the pull of Satan and the world. O means to OWN ONE’S CROSS and refuse to forsake it, and also to put the needs of OTHERS ahead of one’s own needs and desires. S involves SACRIFICE of one’s time, talents, and treasures for the upbuilding of Christ’s kingdom and to live SURRENDERED to God’s will. The last S of the word CROSS is SUBMISSION to the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When one meets the prerequisites of denying oneself and taking up one’s cross, then one is truly ready to follow Christ and become one of His dedicated soldiers. The Apostle Paul used the analogy of a soldier to describe one who adept at self-denial. He said, in writing to Timothy, for him to “endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (II Timothy 2:3-4). A good soldier always puts the mission ahead of any other need or desire.
To encourage us in bearing our cross, Jesus told us that His yoke was easy and His burden was light (Matthew 11:28:30). I remember when my husband and I would bring a piece of furniture into the house (one that was light enough for the two of us to maneuver), he would say, “I’ll get the heavy end, and you get the other end–it’s not as heavy”. Jesus has already carried the heavy end of the cross which freed Him up to help us carry the other lighter end.