In the quiet following the large-scale, miraculous feeding of the five thousand, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?… Who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20).
Everyone had their own version of who Jesus was. Many, like Herod, were curious but perplexed. Others believed Him to be Elijah, a prophet of old, or a resurrected John the Baptist. And I can’t blame them, because even with all the prophecy and typology in the Old Testament, no one had ever seen the Messiah. Jesus as Messiah was a completely new kind of being.
But good old Peter jumps right in with the correct Sunday-school answer: “God’s Messiah.” Bam! Atta boy, Peter. But even Peter’s confession was revealed to him, not by flesh and blood, but by the heavenly Father (Matthew 16:17). Even Peter needed help sorting out the right answer.
And who is God’s Messiah? What does this designation mean? The true Messiah would be the One who would suffer and die for the sins of God’s people, and after three days rise again, though not even Peter had understood that much. The Messiah was not merely one of the prophets, or Elijah, or John. He was the One for whom John prepared the way in the wilderness. We have the advantage of history on our side, knowing that Jesus did suffer, die, and rise again. And we can use that advantage to answer with Peter, “You are God’s Messiah.”
What should we do with this information? Right away Jesus follows Peter’s confession with: “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Since I don’t have a physical, wooden cross handy, I can’t help but wonder, What does it means to “take up your cross”? Jesus laid aside His glory to bear the cross to Calvary; this was His greatest act of self-denial and obedience to the Father. It is self-denial for the glory of God.
In the same way, He calls us to set aside our own wills and be fully devoted to the Father’s will. Here’s the sticking point: This is the hardest thing on earth to do. I love doing my own will. It’s my favorite thing. And Jesus specifies that taking up one’s cross is a daily action. With the apostle Paul, our response to the risen Messiah is to die to ourselves daily (1 Corinthians 15:31). So every day, we are called to do the absolute hardest thing in the world—die to ourselves and set aside what we want.
We’re all like Peter; we can blurt out Sunday-school answers, but the very next minute, we need someone to say to us: “Get behind me Satan!” (Matthew 16:23). We aren’t able to set aside our own will so easily. So how do we take up our cross? We simply take up Christ. We fall at the beautiful feet of the One who has brought us the good news of the gospel (Romans 10:15). We cling to Him, leaning on His perfect righteousness, day after day.
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58 thoughts on "Take Up Your Cross"
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Oh boy did I need the reassurance of this reading. I’m a dental student right now. I live alone in a house that I’m supposed to take care of, inside and out, in addition to carrying about 30+ credit hours of classes, having a 100lb dog that needs love and daily exercise, and having all my studying that needs attention after I’ve been at school all day, in addition to trying to take care of myself too. So many nights I find myself exhausted and overwhelmed, and the battle of “do I relax and ignore my duties and obligations for a while?” or “do I bite the bullet and try to prioritize and start chipping away at all I need to do?” is very real for me. I know this may sound silly to someone reading, but it feels like an impossible amount of responsibilities on my plate. Something is always going to get dropped. I’m reminded of my mother, and mothers everywhere for that matter, who give their all, day after day, to make sure their kids are cared for and have everything they need to succeed, in addition to working, managing a household, and every other thing that moms miraculously find time to do, despite their exhaustion and aching bodies. I need that kind of resolve and dedication to my task because I know God has brought me to this season in life for a reason and that He’s equipping me to fulfill a purpose He has planned for me. I just don’t know what it is yet.
My favorite verse from this reading was Romans 10:14 (NLT) “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” When we choose to follow christ, when we choose to pick up our crosses and let the will of God lead, without even trying, we are telling others about Christ. Just that simple action of letting Christ lead us may inspire someone who’s watching to do the same.
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will. be. saved. EVERYONE. – this is something that I have lost sight of, despite the fact that I am not worthy of his salvation and his love, he PROMISES that everyone who calls His name will be saved. so, once again I find myself resting on His promise to me. I am not worthy, yet He welcomes me.
“I love doing my own will. It’s my favorite thing.” YES. This is so real!
I missed a few days and am catching up.
I’m confident God wanted me to wait to read this. Life is hard. It’s ugly and messy. It’s full of honey do lists and pull ups for me. My anxiety takes over like you wouldn’t believe. But here, God tells me it’s a daily action to let Him lead me. It’s a simple act to let Him take control. So good.
Thank you Lord for leading Rebecca and the SRT team to prepare such a wonderful devotional for my day! It may be hard to take up my cross, and it can be extra heavy on some days, but I know that Jesus is always there if I need a helping hand!
I love that the idea of taking up your cross is a daily thing. I think it is so reflective of a Christ-like love in that you choose to love everyone around you everyday through various actions and we can show the Lord our love and reverence for Him by denying our own will to solely follow the miraculous will He has created for us.
“But who do you say I am?”
I have no doubt that Jesus knew what the disciples not only thought about Him but who they thought Him to be. Peter’s answer was indeed spot on, but I am curious as to what the other disciples had to say and whether they believed He was actually “The Christ of God.”
Jesus came here to fulfilled God’s will for His life and to save us —people flawed, selfish, stubborn and full of sin. He trusted in God, in spite of the suffering, and was the ultimate example of dying of oneself daily. It’s important to remember that He was born a man into sin, as we were, and though the journey for Him was not an easy one, His faith in God and holding steadfast to what He was called to do allowed Him to save us and give us access to eternal life.
“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Everyone. Who calls. On the name of the Lord. Will. Be. Saved. That is all. Nothing more need be said. The Father will save all who come to Him with repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Thank you Father for giving me the gift of faith. Thank you for saving me.
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I know I am 100% guilty of not putting God first in every aspect of my day. It’s hard to sacrifice the things you want to do when Christ has said we are to take up our cross DAILY.
I don’t know if it’s just this verse, but I I have heard it a million times, “take up your cross and follow me.” I never recall hearing the word DAILY. Committing our lives to follow Him in every single way. We should obey all his Commandmenfs and be after Christ’s own heart. We should be make strides and efforts daily. Even small baby steps toward Him is better than falling off and into the way of Satan.
God wants each and every one of us to take up our crosses and follow Him. I’ve been making huge strides in every day that comes. I’m nowhere near perfect—some days I don’t follow through and read my devotionals. But I have consistently gone back and played catch-Up on the days that I miss. I know how important it is to be in God’s word and to be surrounded by His love in every scripture—even some of those grueling chapters in Leviticus!
So what am I doing today? I’m taking up my cross to follow alongside Him. Each day I will strive to do this. For anything done in God’s name is good news and his provisions endure forever.
As I wait an important decision on a new work opportunity, today’s word really put things into perspective. A great reminder that my life’s work serves His will, and not ours.
So much goodness to unpack in this. I loved how we first looked at how Jesus told them – when you’re not welcomed just “shake off their dust and move on.” And then brought to where the Lord tells us to deny ourselves. I know for me, I can get caught up in defending myself when I feel unwelcome, uninvited, or like people are attacking me. So taking those two things together and looking at the “shaking off the dust” (not defending myself) as fulfilling Jesus’ calling to deny myself together is new for me. And gosh, it’s not going to be easy but I already feel so much relief in that.
I recommend the book, Free of Me: why life is better when it’s not about me. Author: Sharon Hide Miller. The book speaks to our problem of self-focus and gives practical steps to help us place God at the center of our lives. Great reflection type of book. It’s a keeper!
SC, I understand what you are talking about. But my story is different, when my children took Biology in HS (the only year I didn’t homeschool) and it turned them both from God. I meet with the teacher and he was the total oppposite of your dad. So wish he had taugh my kids. I have faith that that will return, they are young and the lost sheep parable, keeps my hope up. It is truly wonderful the relationship you both have with Jesus. Thanks for sharing and I will add him to my prayer list.
How do we put aside our own will and follow God’s will for our lives? self-denial. and Jesus being that physical example of what that looks like as He picked up His cross (when He could’ve save Himself) to save man (who was also denying Him) from our sins.
Reflecting and meditating on this today.
If you could have any super power, what would you ask for?
This is a pretty common question amongst children as they consider all the super heroes they’ve encountered through media. But maybe it’s also a good question for we adults to answer.
What super power do I want to ask God to grant me? He’s already given me the Holy Spirit so I already have an advantage over a cape, a bat mobile and a spiders web.
Today’s Scripture gave me my answer to that children’s question :
The super power I’m requesting is to deny myself, take up my cross daily and follow Jesus.
Who knows how many just might come to a saving knowledge of Christ because of my words and actions? So…
Today I will kneel and pray for this power, supernaturally available through the Holy Spirit.
And I will don my cape of righteousness, get in my car and cast away the Truth of the Word for the salvation of friends and family. All to the glory of the Holder of all super powers, God alone.
I always enjoy your posts. Thank you Churchmouse !
My family had a close call today. Made me think of “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
My dad is a science teacher. That means sometimes, he has to teach Evolution even if he believes in Creation, and when he explains human physiology including birth, sensitive and controversial questions like abortion, genetic counseling come from students. Some are genuinely curious and create meaningful discussion, but there are times when they pick and twist his responses, report them to their parents, or to the principal saying he made a religious statement in classroom. He tries his best to make religiously/politically correct statements in class, but sometimes it feels unfair when he was just answering a student’s question.
Thankfully, this time it was a false accusation and it went well. But we were anxiety-ridden! Every time it happens, my family’s hearts sink- what if he got fired? sued? Worse, what if this gets on news media and we face defending ourselves and our faith to the world? What happens to our livelihood?
Keeping faith as Christians is getting harder, having to watch what we say and how we say it, just to live “normal” lives. How much of this counts as trying to “save his own life” and “ashamed of Jesus” when we truly do love Him and want to deny ourselves; if this should be the cross He asks our family to bear, will I stand firm (I hope so)? I respect my dad a lot and hope I don’t ever become a hindering block to him, as well as my own faith. Lord, I pray for stronger faith.
Praying for wisdom for your family when situations like that arise. But also remember how the Bible says that the perfect words will come to people at the exact time they need them, If they have faith. So i would pray those verses for your father if i were you, and just trust that God will keep his word.
Wonderfully put
I needed this today. His will. Not ours. ❤️
I needed this today. ❤️
I don’t really know where else to turn right now. This study has been such a blessing to me in what seems to be the darkest of times. As I have spent more and more time in His word. I have heard God speak to me like never before. I moved my family to a whole new place when the perfect job opened up for me, we knew no one but have been blessed beyond blessed in so many ways. However, this is all marred by the one person who should be encouraging and supporting me doing the exact opposite, I am actually afraid to be in a meeting with them because all I get is destroyed and made to feel so guilty. I don’t have anyone I can talk to here who isn’t impartial to know whether I am being over sensitive or what I should do. I am so glad that I have learned to talk and listen to my Papi. I am loving the book of Luke and all it is teaching me. Without even realising, I have been challenged by how much Jesus prayed despite his relationship with His Father and the Spirit. He was as close as could be but He still took time to pray, and I for one am so thankful for the example He shares with us in His Word.
Praying for you, Beckie
Prayers ! I hope you find your church to put down some roots and to have a welcoming community
This came up on my feed today (God is so good to confirm His Word). Enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/154133361273799/posts/2128577640496018/
“How do we take up our cross? We take up Christ..” Reminds me of my conversation with my daughter when she was discouraged. ” You don’t fight sin by looking at the sin. You fight sin by turning your gaze on Christ.” Good thoughts. Thank you.
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Amen!
Such a good word!
Daily allowing God to work in me without my help. Trusting that He is in control and all will be well. Thank you Lord for this reminder!
This morning before my devotion time, I had devotion time with my 7-year-old granddaughter. Today I read her the story of Abraham’s obedience to God when he took Isaac up to sacrifice him. Abraham truly took up his cross with unbelievable faith. I think about him holding the knife up over his only son whom he loved almost as much as he loved Jesus. I had to just stop and think about how Abraham must have felt. Abraham took up his cross in a manner God has not asked me to do. It was a hard message for Bella to understand why God would ask Abraham to kill his son, and why Abraham was going to do that. Faith, obedience, trust, love, trial, and peace. Those words all describe what Abraham was doing and why. This ties into today’s lesson. I want to have that unshakable faith and obedience that Abraham showed. That looks different for each of us but Jesus gives us strength through the word to do that. Yesterday was my day off and I did my devotion but not with heart. I was lazy and it made me feel awful. Today I am going to pray that God gives me to the strength to speak to every customer kindly, to pray with the customer or for my customers, to be kind to the people I don’t like and to work as unto the Lord. I am raying that I too can take up my cross as Abraham did his.
As a mom, wife, and daycare provider, I have lots of opportunities to deny myself everyday. It’s doing it with the right heart that I need to work on. Loving and giving to and for my littles, my young adults, and my husband without seeking a reward for myself. I think we sometimes ‘reward’ ourself with a harshly worded social media post concerning the loves of our lives that gains us attention and ‘likes’. I see far too many moms and wives posting about the hardships of family life. It isn’t easy, but I hope we can build one another up positively, rather than
I’ve been seeing and feeling the same way lately. Self denial isn’t very popular in the “me time” world we live in. Mothers acting like martyrs on social media about the blessings God has given to them. I think some of that is perspective. If we see our lives as burdens, it begins to feel that way. If we see it as a blessing to get to pour ourselves out to the next generation, we start to see feel it that way. In our attempt to commiserate with other moms about the difficult parts of raising children and running households, we changed the narrative on those things into something negative. I think the good news is that we can turn the tide, we can narrate it differently.
Sunday school answers. They’re great, and sometimes even have the right intentions, but something I have to recognize every day is whether or not what I say and how I live life, which is supposed to be according to God’s word, is being said or maybe even done out of habit.
I can claim to be a Christian all day long, but am I reflecting that? Is the way I live my life reflecting who Jesus is?
Though my answer cannot always be yes, I loved having a reminder to continue to pursue that and never forget why I need to be the person God wants me to be
We have a joke in our family that sometimes ‘one of us goes off in the weeds’. We get distracted, caught up in things that don’t really matter, stressed, lazy, whatever. This is our gentle way of calling a loved one back to what matters. I’ve been pondering the parable of the seeds. Even if we are fertile soil, sometimes we go off in the weeds where we get choked by the cares of life.
Lately I’ve been praying at the start of my day to remember to take up the cross and live this day for Christ. I dedicate it to Him. I’ve realized that this has to be a daily occurrence. It is too easy to get off track. It isn’t a deliberate action, it is just easy to drift if I’m not paying attention. Drifting, if not caught will land us deeper in the weeds until we are lost.
Rebecca is right that it is hard. There are days when I long to drift off in the weeds and sit a spell. I don’t want to work at righteousness. I’m tired. Those are the days when I really need to pay attention.
It really helps to have you dear sisters to remind me of what is important at the start of my day. It helps that we all struggle at different times and hold each other up. You are all a great encouragement to me.
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I love this ! Thank you !
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I think it can be simple things like stopping to really listen to someone who is hurting, adding a bit to a tip just to be kind, serving, foregoing a new pair of shoes to support a needy family. I try to look for those daily moments when I have the opportunity to be Jesus’ hands and feet. I fear I miss more than I see.
Thank you Angie for a wonderful description of what it means to take up your cross on a daily basis! As we “cling to Jesus and lean into His righteousness day after day” per Lindsay’s words, my prayer is that my life could look like that. It’s the hardest thing to give up one’s own desires and take up that cross, but I know it is so worth every step!
Jesus carried the cross so that he could complete His purpose here on earth.
The perfect Christ’s death and resurrection paid for my sin and bought me eternal life with Him.
What do I carry to complete His purpose here on earth?
It might be different daily.
Changing diapers and cleaning gum out of a child’s hair with love
Answering phones in an office and giving grace to the client whose anger is being taken out on me
Drinking a cup of coffee on break and encouraging a co-worker
Entering a classroom every day and modeling Jesus through tender actions and words that guide
Working beside someone in a dirty, heat-filled factory, praying for them as we work
Getting up and going to a dull job, day after day, and focusing on the blessing of it
Living alone and lonely but using the time to draw closer to the Savior
Attending doctors appointments with the recognizable peace of Christ in our spirit
It looks different for everyone and different every day.
Taking whatever step is before you, thankful that though it is difficult, all the time…or at times, sometimes so very difficult…the replacement of a self agenda to glorify Christ, will be worth it.
His will for mine
Thank you for this description!
Thank you for this reminder. I so needed to see it this way. Blessings to you.
Beautifully said Angie! Thank you for the reminder that it is the simple daily tasks that we can take up our cross and glorify Jesus!
Thanks for the contribution ! Truly, you have given lots of us a bit of wisdom that would other wise alludes us! Take up your cross. Take up your calling and contribute to the Kingdom of God
So perfectly said. Thank you for this reminder.
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Oops, looks like it was actually posting!
I think it looks like the opposite of what our “flesh” desires and more like the fruits of the Holy Spirit. In any situation : being selfless, kind, patient, not self seeking or self serving, slow to anger, etc. Basically functioning under the supernatural because our natural state is most often all about us instead of HIM and instead of others.
I wrote down words like:
follow, listen, obey, sacrifice, confidence, deny self, others-focused, Jesus-focused. and doing these things even in the “little” things all day, every day.
I agree, and think that on a practical level, it can start with asking God to mold your will to his. Doing our own wills and just simply remembering to seek God’s will first can be challenging, but his plans are to prosper us and he always wants our good and his glory, so walking in obedience always ends up in blessings for us anyway. So there are lots of reasons to say, “not my will but yours be done!”
I’m still not sure what denying myself and taking up my cross looks like on a day to day basis – anyone have any ideas?
Hi Alice. I’m trying to figure this out myself. I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to surrender and humble myself in His presence. In my own life, that means starting my day asking for God’s help putting aside my own desires and will. This isn’t something we can do on our own… putting down our will or picking up His!!!!
My alarm went off this morning at 5:45. I knew that I needed to get up to do my devotion, but the bed felt too warm and I didn’t want to deny myself. On the cross, things die. Often in order to do the things I am called to do for Christ, I have to die to myself.
I struggle also. I realized this morning that yesterday’s message was about listening and today’s was about action based on what I’ve heard. I can’t listen to God, hear his will for me and then ignore it. God isn’t giving us advice, he’s giving us mandates. So I’m going to start with being prayerful and listening, and then using the discernment that God has given me to act according to his will and not my own. To me taking up the cross has always sounded like a big, dramatic gesture, but now I’m wondering if it is just all of the small ways that we can follow Christ each day.