SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                            1054

“Take Up Your Cross”

And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Luke 9:23; Matthew 10:38

How do we define our cross? We know it is not a physical cross like Jesus was crucified on – so what did Jesus mean by taking up our cross?

The cross in Jesus’ day signified death by a gruesome and cruel Roman method of execution. For today’s Christian community it signifies the remission of the punishment for our sins and the eternal life we have through Jesus by His death and resurrection. We even proudly wear the symbol of the cross on our person – but are we taking up our cross daily and following Him? Let’s examine our reference Scripture further.

The first key element in Jesus’ statement has to do with our desire to follow Him: ‘If anyone would come after me…’ When we first accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we have this desire to leave our old sinful way of life behind and to learn to be more like Jesus and to live our lives in obedience to His Word. But there is an internal war being waged between our flesh and our newly justified spirit. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:17)

This leads into the second key element in Jesus’ statement – denying our flesh. ‘…let him deny himself…and follow me.’ The desires of our flesh can hinder and interfere with our acting on our desire to follow Jesus. Remember the rich young man and others who came to Jesus with a desire to follow Him but were hindered by the cares of this world.  Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:16-30)

To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” (Luke 9:59, 61)

The cross is both a symbol of death and obedience. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)

A Christian’s life of following Jesus is characterized by the process of sanctification – obediently being set apart and made holy. This leads us to third key element in Jesus’ statement which deals with this process. ‘…and take up his cross daily and follow me.’ When we deny our flesh and take up our cross, we die ‘little deaths’ by crucifying the desires of the flesh that war against and hinder our ability to follow Jesus in obedience to His Word.

Are you willing to crucify the desires of your flesh that hinder a closer walk with Jesus? Can you say ‘No!’ to the lusts of the flesh, the idols and unimportant ‘priorities’ in your life that presumptuously take first place over following Jesus?

May each day bring you into a closer walk with Jesus.