The Cross for His Followers

The Cross for His Followers

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’”(Mark 8:34)

There is only one cross.  We must never use the word to refer to the ordinary difficulties of life.  When we take up the cross, we take the way that Christ walked, not, of course, as an atonement, but as a method of life that puts the Father’s will first.  Alexander Maclearen puts it this was, “To slay the life of self is always pain, and there is no discipleship without crucifying “the old man.”  Taking up my cross does not merely mean accepting meekly God-sent or men-inflicted sorrows, but persistently carrying on the special form of self-denial which my special type of character requires.

Etymologically, the words disciple and discipline come from the same word.  The two words must be understood together; you cannot be a disciple if you are not disciplining yourself.  The type of discipline I am talking about is the opposite of legalism - we are talking about a life that gives itself over for death, for crucifixion, for the death of the lower self.

Meditation:  Am I daily crucifying the “old man“?

Further Reading: Matthew 10:24-39