Take up your cross..but what is it?

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. I would be curious to hear some perspectives on what 'taking up our cross daily' means. Obviously the cross Jesus was talking about must be figurative...he wasn't talking about all of us carrying heavy wooden timber about...but what exactly is the cross in Luke 9:23 figurative of? Is it referring to specific Christian callings such as evangelism or even martyrdom, or can a devout Christian who is trying to honor God even in the 'secular' areas of their lives be considered a cross carrier? Perhaps in simplest terms, the 'cross' is a faithful, humble and uncomplaining heart towards God regardless of our circumstance? The word 'daily' implies that the 'cross' is something other then ultimate heroic sacrifice and courage, because even heroes have uneventful days. I was reading a Spurgeon devotional on this familiar subject when it occurred to me that I am unclear on it's fullest meaning for the 'average 'Christian.Here are some hilights from that devotional to perhaps render my question more clearly."You do not make your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will wants to be lord and master. But your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you must cheerfully accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand complaining. This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in pride, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; He leads the way in the path of sorrow. Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers or lined with velvet; it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colors; it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of Sorrows tried the load. Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it that like Moses you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus carried it; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble. "

Brother Mike,The way I explain to people the cross is to bring up Jesus prayer at Gethsemane, when he said to the father, "not my will but yours". Remember, Jesus earlier had prayed, "let this cup pass from me". To take up the cross daily is to give our will over to God and follow him no matter where that takes us everyday.Mat 26:39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. Mat 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

To take up the cross daily is to give our will over to God and follow him no matter where that takes us everyday.To take it even further... it is death to all ambition. Death to boasting and trying to impress others. Death to doing anything on my own. Death to my plans, desires, will. Death to all my striving to please him. No more striving to believe. If I am to have faith, true faith, the faith of Christ, he has to give it to me.In Christ,Ron

"not my will but yours"... To take up the cross daily is to give our will over to God and follow him no matter where that takes us everyday.Death to doing anything on my own. Thanks,I really appreciate these answers. MC

...yes DENY self, but not KILL selfThanks Dorcas, this is a point worth discussing. The idea that we must 'kill ourselves daily' reeks of utter self-absorption. I've known more then a few people who have become obsessed with their own persecution...it's not very becoming and certainly doesn't seem to have the 'selfless' heart of Luke 9:23. The phrase 'disown himself' says a lot to me...it is not looking at oneself is horror or disgust, exhausting spiritual energies on vain self-retribution. Instead, as we trust and accept in the working of the cross in our own lives, we can afford to pay attention to the needs of others. The phrase 'a man for others' comes to mind.It's interesting to consider that even Jesus needed help in carrying his cross. Perhaps this is a crucial paradigm shift for individualistic 'Western' Christianity.MC

"If we suffer,we shall also reign with him,:if we deny him,he also will deny us:" 2tim 2:12 but also in the book of mark ch 8:27-38 The cost of discipleship,I think peter spoke what the other disciples were thinking, they did not want to see him suffer and be killed.,ver 32-33but when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked peter.Get thee behind me,satan:for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things of men.also in Matt10:32-33

The principle of the cross seems to be eternal but the out-workings of it are varied. The voluntary submission of the Son to the Father was in itself the underlying principle. This is the yielding up of all legitimate rights to another for love's sake. “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant...” (Phil 2:5-7 ASV) There is no coercion here but free choice for love's sake.His CrossThe ultimate outward expression of this principle was seen in Christ's submission... “being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” (Phil 2:7-8 ASV) According to Hebrews “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:14 KJVS) It is often not noticed that 'a Lamb' was not one of the original 'sin offerings on the Day of Atonement. The Lamb, as in the burnt offering, was a symbol of utter givenness to God; the whole being consumed as a sweet smelling odour to God. Twice daily, Israel in the flesh symbolized its givenness to God in the daily offering of the Lamb.(Ex. 29:39)Hebrews says here that Christ 'offered himself without spot to God'. On this perfect and sinless offering God placed all the sins of the world. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Is 53:6 KJVS) He 'made Him to be sin' the Holy Spirit reveals in 2 Cor 5:21.This is 'His' cross and we cannot share it nor replicate it. This is the eternal principle of voluntary submission taken up and transformed into the once and final sacrifice for sin. Any attempt to add to 'His Cross' by our own suffering in mystic asceticism or penance is to devalue what He accomplished. My crosses...BUT in... “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 KJVS)...we have two vital differences; this is the disciple's cross AND it is daily. There is nothing to do with sin-bearing associated with this cross... and there is no end to it! I do believe it has aspects of the eternal principle but is quite different to what was achieved at Calvary. One shared aspect is that it is a 'voluntary choice'. No one can lay a cross on another, the disciples must 'take up' his cross daily and follow Christ. This means that no suffering imposed by another is automatically a 'disciple's cross'. The disciple's cross is not what happens to him but his chosen attitude.It is 'No' to myself and 'Yes' to God. It a chosen route; not my will be done but thine;“Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42 KJVS) We should note again here that the 'cup' has been offered and Christ was within his 'rights' to refuse it. But HIs response is 'not mine, but thine'. I know some folk like logic and some detest it but perhaps someone can get to work on the algebra of this. ;-) egSomething might be 'not my will' AND 'not the Father's will' at the same time. This would not be 'a cross' although the disciple must always be sure He is surrendered to God in his opposition to such an imposition. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7 KJVS)“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist...” (1Pet 5:6-9 KJVS)Secondly some could be 'my will' AND the 'Father's will' at the same time. This is the norm for genuine Christianity, but would not be 'a cross'.It is in 'suffering' that the Christian experiences 'a cross'. “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:” (Eph 5:29 KJVS) Fasting then can be a form of 'cross' but only if it is 'God's chosen fast' ie only if it in 'not my will, but thine'. To qualify as 'a cross' it must have God's 'commission' AND my free choice against my own instinctive preference. If someone 'enjoys' fasting it is not 'a cross' but an incipient masochism. There are some whose instinctive choice would be for the plainer things of life. It is conceivable that in such people 'a cross' might be an occasion when God enriches you in some way. It may be 'a cross' to choose 'cream' for your coffee, but only if your natural choice was 'no cream' and you perceive the will of God to be 'cream'.Let me illustrate the latter...“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.” (Phil 4:11-13 ASV)This sounds as if the learning process of 'being content... in whatsoever state I am' operates at both ends of the spectrum. Paul had not only learned how to be abased, and had also learned how to abound. His life secret is "I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me." This could be translated 'I can do all things through Christ my Strengthener'. This is not a single, one-off, lesson that he has learned but a process in which Christ becomes his daily strength to enable his daily cross-bearing.The 'disciple's cross' is not necessarily something unpleasant, as others would see it. It is the free choice of God's will against my own. As with so many things in the Christian life, it is not what happens to me that counts but the subsequent choices I make. Happenings do not determine character, choices do. :-) There is an old Victorian aphorism which saysSow a thought and reap a deed.Sow a deed and reap a habit.Sow a habit and reap a character.Sow a character and reap a destiny. They weren't wrong about everything those Victorians! :-D

Thanks Ron,The 'disciple's cross' is not necessarily something unpleasant, as others would see it. It is the free choice of God's will against my own. Do you think that at times folk would preach against the 'cream' because it was a 'cross' to them somehow? What I mean here is that pet-peeves soon become standards of holiness if we are not careful. I recently told someone that if I were made rich I would still drive an old car in defiance of my wealth. Sounds almost like rebellion, but what if God sent someone to give me a Hummer H2? It would be a cross for me to drive it as it flies in the face of my personality; though someone else may perceive it as me vaunting myself. In this I see the truth of what you are saying. It is not a 'cross' for me to drive a used car, because I don't prefer a new one. Some folk have the ascetic thing going, not because it is a cross, but because they wish to do it. God didn't tell them to do it against their will, they just do it as a matter of course. The problem here is that when I don't do the ascetic thing that someone may think me less spiritual; but they have forgotten that it was not against their will that they lived the ascetic life. Nor does it make them more spiritual for the doing. A cross for those folk would be a huge soft leather recliner with an electric back messager. Imagine being tormented like that. :-) I suppose we don't take the time to fully recon with these things. Sobering it is.

Fasting then can be a form of 'cross' but only if it is 'God's chosen fast' ie only if it in 'not my will, but thine'.This is a great topic. This is something I have been musing for awhile. When I was a younger Christian, I would fast very often. I went on several fasts that were, what I would concider very long. The last few months I have really been examining myself. I think I was having "faith in my fast," more than "faith in God." In other words because I was denying myself by fasting, I thought that God would approve and make the meeting or what ever it might be "sucessful." I don't mean sucessful as in man's eyes, but primarily that "God would be there."What I've really been seeking is a balance. I know we are to 'deny ourselves' but it's easy for man to go to the extreme and make it merely works, instead of abiding in Christ. I guess it really just goes with the heart. I think it is easy to get into an ascetic line of thought. Where you think that the more pain and 'denying' myself, the closer to God you are.

Amen Remember the cross. The cross is where we find the difference between His will and ours.The cross is also the only place that we will find Him, He meats all at the cross. Some people have asked, “What does the cross actually mean?” A good way to think about what the cross means is that no one can stay alive being crucified on the cross; you will die if you stay hanging on the cross. Just like in real life, we must die daily carrying our cross. The cross is actually were GOD wants us. It means not your own will or your own life but God's life in you. Luke 17:33 “If anyone makes an attempt to keep his life, it will be taken from him, but if anyone gives up his life, he will keep it.” note: The word life in Greek(ψυχὴ) is translated as "your soul, your will, your mind, or your self." So then our life is not our own but the Lords.

The problem here is that when I don't do the ascetic thing that someone may think me less spiritual...Hi RobertI'm not correcting you here just taking the opportunity to add a comment...Some years ago I believe the Lord showed me something very significant about the cross...“My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” (Psa 22:15 KJVS)... this is a vivid description of one experiencing 'a cross' (in this case it was THE cross, too) and the portion that captured my attention was '...“my tongue cleaveth to my palate...(Psa 22:15 DRBY) His tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. One of the 'hardest' things about the cross is that you are not able to 'explain what is happening' to those who are around you, not even to that person that you want to think you are 'spiritual'.:-? It is a startling truth that of all the 'sayings' of the cross, there is not one in which Christ explained what was happening to Him! In fact, I begin to think that if others can understand it, it may not be the 'cross' at all. It is a desparately lonely place, a cross, even when there are crowds around.Still want to take up your cross daily and follow Him? :-)

I believe this is a vital topic. If we don't understand taking up our cross, it may also mean we don't entirely understand what Christ did on the cross and unknowingly place the burden of the law on ourselves.David Wilkerson has a couple messages on the site "I Will Fear No Evil" and "Freedom From Sin" which shed some light (indirectly, but to great degree) on taking up our cross.Ultimately, taking up our cross is submission of our will to His - being willing to do His will [John 7:17]. Of course we can only do this by obeying God's Word and submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit. But we often miss the practical aspect here, and this is what Wilkerson addresses - how do we 'do' His will?When we strive to please God, to somehow fulfill righteous living by our own effort - we miss the point of the cross. I made the mistake for years of clinging to Christ for forgiveness but thought obedience was my own 'cross'. Tragically, such a perspective puts us back under the burden of the law and the Old Covenant.Some observations:There is no condemation for those in Christ...who walk according to the Spirit - NOT FLESH. (Romans 8:1,8)If you live in the flesh you must die. (Romans 8:13)The law has jurisdiction over someone as long as he/she lives. (Romans 7:1)You were made to die to the law through the body of Christ (Romans 7:4)Those united with Christ in death will also be in resurrection for he who has died is free from sin. (Romans 6:5)Jesus could do nothing of Himself. He doesn’t expect less of us. (John 5:19-20,30 John 8:28-29)The law shows us the weight of our sin!"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God." (Gal 2:19-20)"Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." (Gal 3:24-25)"You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." (Gal 5:4-5)"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." (Gal 5:16-24)I take up my cross daily by clinging to God's promises. "...He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires." (2 Peter 1:4)God promises to fulfill righteous living for us! Not only did he pay for our sins on the cross, he crushed them! "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezek 36:25-28)"Through God we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries." (Ps 60:12)My point in all this rambling: It is God who enables us to bear any cross, the only way we can take up our crosses daily is by His grace. Don't buy into the idea that we have a duty to crush sin in our lives by our own power. Christ took the weight of our sin on the cross and we shouldn't attempt to take it back. All we can do is cling to Jesus and trust the Holy Spirit to fulfill His word that says He will do it!

Hi Ron,Still want to take up your cross daily and follow Him? From what you explained, it helps me isolate the 'cross' in my own life. Truly it is a daily thing also. You ask, ]Still want to take up your cross daily and follow Him? I can't say that I want to, if I did it would not be a cross, but yet, I must still confess, "not my will, but His be done."

Luke 9:22,23 And He said to them all, if anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake, this one shall save it.The issue of the daily cross is denying our soul life. That is the natural life of our soul which is a fallen independant life from God and the issue of the fruit of the tree of the knowlege of good and evil.To live a 'crucified life" is to live denying Self and living by the indwelling Life of Christ. Jesus in John says, As I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall live because of Me.The Christian Lfie is a life of denying Self. And denying Self is not to deny ourselves this or that pleasure or this or that activitiy or what have you, that is asceticism. To deny Self is to deny Self as a base and source of our life and living.To deny Self is to deny both our "bad self" and our "good self". It is live instead by the indwelling Christ.The natural man lives by the life of his soul. He lives by what he thinks, what he feels and what he determines. But the Christian does not live by any of these things, He lives by the Life of God in his regenerated spirit. He is governed by this Life and by this Life his mind, his will, and his emotions are renewed and brought under the control of the Spirit of God in his spirit. He becomes a spiritual man instead of a soulish man. And the faculties of his soul become a transpared vessel to express the mind of God, the feeling of God, and the will of God which is in his spirit. A spiritual man is a man who is governed by his spirit and not his mind, will, and emotions. He has a mind, a will, and emotions but he does not live by them in an independant way. Rather he lives by faith in the Son of God, sets his life in Christ and derives everything from Christ by the inward aspiration of faith.GraftedbranchGraftedbranch

Is it possible as the disciples watched from afar the persecution, trial, beating, mocking, scourging and walk of Calvary that the words of Christ echoed deep within their hearts and minds ? As Christ hung there, in plain view, suffering He declared for all;This is my cross, this is what denying your life looks like, this is what giving is and what love means. I have often considered what drove the disciples, then apostles; could have been their abscence at the foot of their Lord's demise and how that memory burned deep into their conscience. Is it a coincidence that the only disciple to witness the death of Christ, died a non-violent death, albiet alone. If I consider the price paid, the redemption of His purchased possesion; I look for a cross that I may walk with my Lord. Or maybe a door post into which I may drive an awl through my ear to mark me as His slave forever. Surely anything I've ever done without Christ is only worth the ash it will become in that glorious day of His appearing. Deny your life, I whisper to myself so many times a day; it's a tribute to the power of lust and pride which lives on in my flesh. That I would even pretend the least confusion as to what is of the world and what is ' seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness' is only a way to fool myself. I have been sealed, marked and adopted into the family of Almighty God and I will not pretend that my hesitance is a matter of not knowing better, it's the fact that I remain a selfish, petulant child who refuses to bear about in his body the mark's of my Lord's suffering. I weep on my knees and despair of ever loving Christ enough to change my life completely, to die to this world, to sever the entanglements of this world and clearly sound the trumpet of battle. Would I die, if only a small death, today and give to my Lord what is truly His, all my strength, all my mind, all my heart and everything up to and including my last breath ? Only the Spirit knows and He certainly speaks to me clearly through His Word.His, todayRich

My personal dig on denying myself is basically not doing what I want to do, but doing what He wants me to do. I admit openly there are multiple times daily that I don't want to be obediant. I would rather sleep than pray, rather eat than study, and rather keep to myself than witness. Being a sold out Christian is not fun, but look at the alternative. The worldly life is fulfilling on the surface, but hellish on the inside, while self-denying Christianity is just the opposite.

Luk 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear [it] after Jesus. Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. The Cross is a Cross. You say, anything else we should know? In these three scriptures we have three different ways of the Cross being refereed to. The Cross Jesus could not carry Himself, It is spoken of as his cross for the one following Christ, again it is spoken of as the Cross again for the one that would follow.We have no cross that we can use in the place of The Cross of Christ. Even if we did it would do us no good, even if we were to crucify ourselves or allow someone else to do the crucifying for us it would not do us any good, for my sacrifice God could not accept as atonement for anyone sins.The only Cross that I can depend on that has power is the Cross of Christ and that is all that Paul wanted to know. Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. This is the only Cross we can pick up and carry. It is not our cross at all, but the Cross of Christ that we can pick up and follow Him, the one and only Cross that we should be seeking, and the only Cross that has any Glory, this is where our Glory is, In Christ and His Cross.My cross is not a something that I pick up and it becomes a burden or of benefit to me in the service of God and His Son. My Cross is the Identity of myself and being on the Cross with Christ Jesus, that I might die to sin and live unto God by the Christ that is in me. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. By believing this all that the new testament says by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved brings this Cross that is in mention to our possession and this is how we can pick up our cross and follow Him, His Cross is My cross because I am crucified with Him on His Cross. Dead to sin and alive unto God by the Christ that is in us.Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. In Christ: Phillip

Hi Mike,Paul gives us the answer in Phil.3:10-12That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death: If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect:But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.Gal.2:20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me , and gave himself for me.Its entering into the fellowship of His sufferings, by the daily crucifiying of our flesh,being made conformable unto His image, by His apprehendtion of us.Oh, how He loves us so,pastorfrin