Take up your Cross

Mark 8: 34
    “When He had called the people to himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’” NKJV

    After telling His disciples about His death, Jesus instructs the crowd on how to live a life for Him.
    In this first verse He gives three commands: deny yourself, take you your cross, and follow Him.

    Deny Yourself:
    The first of these instruction is not an easy one for us, especially not as Americans. I say that because of the story of the young rich man who wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus told him to sell all his possessions, but the man did not, for he was very wealthy.
    To give away his wealth would have been to deny his own earthly desires for the sake of following Christ. I say that it is hard for Americans for we are very rich. Even our poor are rich compared to other countries, and we live in a country where materialism is the nation’s dream.
    On the other hand, to deny yourself also means to put yourself last. To put the needs of a random person on the street above your own. To comfort those who are hurting, even when you have other things to do.

    Take up your cross:
    What does the cross represent? Nowadays, the Christian faith, and the suffering and sacrifice of the Messiah.
    We all know that Jesus suffered and died on His cross. After being beaten and mocked they brought Him to Golgotha, nailed Him to the cross, and mocked Him still until His death.
    For us this means pain and ridicule from men--until death. This plays into denying ourselves. If we serve ourselves, why would we let ourselves come to harm if we could avoid it? Why would we allow men to mock us? We wouldn’t. But if we serve Jesus with everything we have, we should not fear persecution. In fact, if our suffering preaches to the unbelievers, then we should be glad in it, for He values the return of one lost sheep over a hundred who are saved. So should we.
    The other part to this, which I believe is relevant, is that the cross is the symbol of Christianity. Of course, it wasn’t at the time He said this--the crowed was probably confused when He said this for he had not yet died on one--but for us that cross means Jesus. By taking up a cross, we are taking up the name of Jesus for all to see.
    We are to first preach Jesus through actions and the way we live our lives so that all strangeness points to the cross.
    Then also we should recognize that our very lives, our thoughts, our actions are what the world will see of Jesus. If our lives reflect those of the non-believer, how then will the world see Jesus?
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35

    Follow Him:
    This one is easy to miss because that is the topic being discussed.
    Jesus said that if we are to follow Him we should… follow Him. You’re probably thinking “Well, that’s helpful.”
    Well, yeah, it is. If we want to live a life for Christ then we have to submit to Christ’s authority. We have to follow His commands. We have to follow His example.
    We have to follow Him willingly if we are to be Christians. It’s not just something where you can say a prayer and your Christian life will be laid out for you. You still have to choose daily to do things according to His will and not our own.

    Application:
    I need to deny my earthly desires for things like videogames, chocolate, and writing. I need to sacrifice my own wants and use myself to serve others. I need to be willing to endure hardships and suffering, and the ridicules of this world. I need to live by every moment, giving glory to Christ, realizing I that I bear the name Christian and I do not want His name to be put to shame on my behalf. And I need to follow not only the Lord’s example but His will for me personally.