'Take Up Your Cross' is Discipline

   One of the harder challenges Jesus laid before His apostles and us is from Luke 14:27, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.”  Being a follower of Jesus is not just for the idea of “fire insurance,” meaning asking forgiveness of your sins keeps you out of hell.  It means that if you truly desire to seek forgiveness of your sins, you also want to turn away from a life of sin and be obedient to what the Bible teaches us.  

   Back in the day when Jesus spoke Luke 14:27, the concept of “taking up” or “carrying your cross” meant you were heading to your death.  Remember Jesus carried His physical cross partway to where He would be crucified until Simon of Cyrene was ordered to carry it for Him due to how brutally beaten and scourged Jesus was.  Being a follower of Jesus is not something you pick up on weekends to do.  It is to be our lifestyle and a commitment that is not to be taken lightly.

   Following Jesus costs each of us something.  At the very least, it is our own will to do just what we want.  Instead we are seeking Jesus for His direction for our lives, often at first reading something from the Bible and then applying (obeying) that principle or truth to our lives through changing our attitude or behavior.  As we grow spiritually, the applications are often more life c ...