What does it mean to take up our cross?

OutWest

Active Member
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1Cor 15:30-31. .Why are we also in danger every hour? I protest, brethren, by the boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord; I die daily.

There wasn't a day went by but what Paul prepared himself for it to be his last on Earth because missionaries in his time didn't have it easy.

I'm pretty sure that Matt 16:24-25, Mark 8:24-25, and Luke 9:23 aren't about cleaning up one's act, rather, putting one's self in harm's way, viz: literally risking life and limb.

Most of us are in no serious peril here in our cozy little internet nest. We share our thoughts about Christ and Christianity back and forth like guests chatting around the table at dinner; taking no thought for our safety or who might be listening in the wings; but teaching and/or preaching Christianity in Islamic countries can be very hazardous; those who do so have to be very cautious because they can end up severely beaten, dragged though the streets, and even murdered or imprisoned.

Matt 10:38 . .Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

You know, Jesus has just as much right to pick his own friends as anybody else. Well; I, for one, do not merit a place in his inner circle because I'm a big chicken when it comes to going through hell (so to speak) for my beliefs.

Mark 8:38 . . Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
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Saved and Waiting

Well-Known Member
We aren't to "talk the talk" but, no matter what, Walk the walk". Not easy, not popular, not without pain but what Jesus did. He relied on His Father entirely and I believe that kept Him going under impossible situations for mortal man...which He was besides being God the Son....He could have called on thousands of angels in His misery yet He did not. He could have made the cross He carried feel like a feather...He didn't. He said if the world hated and hates Him...it will do the same to His followers....He also said He will never leave us or forsake us....I take comfort in that totally.
 

mattfivefour

Well-Known Member
Think of the context in which Jesus was speaking, the context of the day in which he and his disciples were living. The people to whom he was talking knew something about carrying a cross. They knew that if they saw a man carrying his cross, that he was a dead man walking. He may have been still breathing, he may still have been able to walk, but his life was over for himself. His dreams were gone, his hopes were gone, his own plans for his future were gone. He knew now that he only had one destination: and that was where he was compelled to go ... to the place of death. I believe the message that Jesus was conveying when He spoke this to people who knew very well what carrying your cross meant was that if you were Christ's, then you were giving up all dreams of your own, all hopes of your own, all plans of your own. You were going where the Spirit of God would lead you ... regardless of your own will, your own desires. You had now settled matters in your mind and were prepared to die .. to die to self.
 
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