Take up

Mark 8:34 ESV

“And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself (or herself) and take up his cross and follow Me.”

In the previous verse, Jesus had just rebuked the spirit inside of Peter. Peter was telling Jesus that He was not going to the cross and suffer and die. The Lord was not rebuking Peter, He was rebuking the spirit in Peter. This was an attempt by satan to use Peter to urge Jesus to bypass the cross for an easier way.

Then Jesus turned to the crowd and His disciples after the rebuke and said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his (or her) cross and follow Me.” This was a message for all that chose to follow Jesus, they have to make a conscious decision to follow Jesus without reservation or seeking a more comfortable way to follow Him.

To deny yourself means to forget your own self-interests. 

To take up your cross doesn’t mean to accept a specific burden from God. It means to deny our selfish nature for God’s purpose. If we belong to God, then we do not belong to who we think we are in this world or better put, we do not belong to our position or power. We have to make a commitment to follow God without reservation.

One commentator said it this way: “All of us need to reject the easier life of shallow, culture-pleasing faith, or selfish, carnal “easy-believism” for total surrender. If we’re unwilling to deny ourselves, and to follow Christ in our actions as well as our response to our emotions, then we’re not really “following” Him, at all.” (Bibleref)

Prayer:

Lord, You have given us a choice, to follow our own will and emotions or set these aside to follow You. Help us Lord to subdue the flesh and lay down our lives and follow You. Amen!