'Take up (your) cross'

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24-27

The Roman soldiers forced criminals to carry the crossbar on which they were going to be crucified to the place of execution.

Unlike the Romans, Jesus’s disciples chose to take up their crossbars and follow Jesus, knowing that just as he ‘was led like a lamb’ to the cross, so sooner or later, our discipleship will involve real sacrifice and difficulty.

Taking up your cross is the complementary part to ‘denying yourself.’

It means everyone knows exactly where your loyalty lies.

Perhaps once a year, we should have a day when all disciples carry a sign of the crossbar all day long!

When we take up our crossbar and follow Jesus, two things happen.

1. Everyone everywhere sees you carrying the crossbar and knows you are someone who takes following Jesus seriously, AND
2. You begin to see a lot of other people who are following Jesus.

Stories from the Kingdom

On one occasion, a Church Volunteer in one of the churches I pastored took his Bible to work and put it on his desk. He had a lot of conversations about Jesus that day, all because of a simple act.