Take Up Your Cross - Daily

Luke 9:23 says, “And He was saying to them all, ‘if anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’”

This is an interesting verse. Sometimes, when we come to Jesus and accept His forgiveness and believe on Him as our Savior, we think that’s all we need to do. And for sure, at that point, we are born again.

But I think sometimes we feel like our salvation is like a “vaccination.” We got it. That’s it. We’re done. But there’s so much more!

Jesus is saying that if we really want to follow Him, we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. So what does that mean to me? I think denying ourselves means putting others first. I think it also means giving the things that will help us grow in our Christian walk, a place of priority in our day-to-day lives.

Sometimes we wake up in the morning and our desire is to spend time with Jesus. Other times, it may be more of a discipline. But one thing that seems to happen, when we deny ourselves and discipline ourselves in these areas, the discipline becomes a delight and desire.

So I encourage you today, to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. Experiencing God’s power and presence in our lives is really the only way to live