"When He has 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...""
Mark 8:34
Jesus here gives an invitation to learn of His heart. He doesn't hold this conversation in private with those who had already shown that they intended to follow Him, no, he invited the people AND His disciples, and not only invited, but called--giving a personal sense to topic. His heart is for all, that the world should know of the cross and He asks that His people bring this knowledge to the world by bearing their own cross.
After He invited them to Himself, He then spoke to them of deep feeling, using that word desire, He spoke that whoever has a wanting of the things He had to offer, there would be a deep price. that phrase "to come after", involves not only a desire but an action, it requires movement; change from the present, it would require changing one's natural habits and practices, it would require taking on the mind of Christ, but it all starts with a desire that is strong enough to respond and come. Once coming, one must deny himself, and take up his cross. To deny something means to refuse to accept it. We are continually fed the lie that sin is in our nature, that we are sinners and therefore we sin, we can't help it. There is some truth in this, but it is cloaked in lies. We are sinners and within the flesh we are prone to sin; nevertheless, for a heart that comes, that heart is able to be strengthened to say no to sin,to reject it, to choose righteousness over folly. to deny himself by denying the flesh and the lusts of it. The command is then to take up your cross and follow. What is my cross? It was obvious that for Christ there would be a physical cross, for soon after, we would see this man beaten, bruised, and bearing a cross, but what does it mean for you and i? Christ made it clear that He had come to earth for a purpose, to do the will of His Father, and when the time came, and the pathway of the cross began, He spoke that it was for this hour that He had come. The work upon the cross was complete, Jesus said, "It is Finished", but the work of salvation to the world is not done...they need to hear that they may choose. I find it interesting that He distinguishes, not just to take up THE cross, remembering what happened at Golgotha, but He said, "take up HIS cross", personalizing it. When we are commanded to take up our cross, Jesus is saying that we are to do the will of our Father. He has given to each of us gifts, talents, He has called each of us. It is a daily choice to respond to our calling. To respond, is to be active in your calling, it is to take up your cross. How? you may ask, what is my calling? it all starts with that first part...come. Come to Christ and He will make these things clear, and He promises to continue to show the way. After His command to take up the cross, it doesn't end, but He says, "Follow" meaning that He will show us the way. If we come to Him daily, prepared, with our cross and our desire toward Him, He will guide us.
The picture that is painted in my mind with this verse is that upon the cross Christ took our shame, our reproach, His cross was full of the sin of the world and through Jesus and His forgiveness the way was made for us to salvation, His cross, laid down gives us the bridge that we need to get from death to life. Once crossing over the bridge of the cross, our sin is done away with forevermore, and we hear the tender voice of our Savior say, "Take up your cross and follow Me." That cross that once represented death, our shame, our sins, now is to be taken up and used for His glory. On this side of the bridge, life in Christ, our cross becomes something beautiful, our cross is what we can carry to use for His glory, our gifts and talents that can be used to further His Kingdom and to show those who are still in death the bridge that is available to them through the cross to bring them into eternal life. I willingly and gratefully walked over that bridge, will i not now, take up that cross and use it to show others the way to Christ? Application for myself, What are the things He has gifted me in and called me to? Am i picking up those things and daily bearing them or do i shrink back and hide? Am I taking my cross and using it to further the work of Christ's cross? I can choose to either bear the cross and wear the work of Christ upon my life, and allow His grace to cover where I lack, or i can try to hide behind the piece of wood. Its a daily choice, but one day at a time, i choose to respond to this call. I need to not hide, but to abide in Him. His heart has invited me, called me, desires that i be freed from the bondage of sin by denying myself, to use what I have to bring glory to Him, and to follow Him--not be left alone, but follow.
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