The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Take Up Your Cross

The Cost of Discipleship – Chapter 4 Discipleship and the Cross.

Luke 9:23

²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  (NAS)

²³ Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. (NLT)

See also Mark 8:31-38 (especially vs. 34-38).

I have been musing on these verses for several weeks, trying to grasp what they mean in the 21^st century America where we generally live safe, sheltered, comfortable, prosperous lives. In fact, it has become a modern doctrine in much of the church that Christ intends us to live this way. It is a sign of a real Christian, no cross (other than the one we wear round or neck or on a lapel) and definitely, no suffering. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Jesus says we must deny ourselves and take up our cross.

Deny Yourself

Denying yourself means Jesus gives us that choice, I deny myself or not. Denying myself means abandoning my life as I want to live it in line with my sinful desires and taking up the life Jesus gives me. It’s my way or God’s way; there are no other options.

This is where most people reject God. We don’t want to deal with the first commandment. Commandments 2-10 aren’t so bad. Living up to those is what we use to define a good person. This is the dilemma Jesus presents to a young man (Matthew 19:16–30, Mark 10:17–31, and Luke 18:18–30). “Hey, I’ve kept them all,” he said.

“No,” Jesus replied. You forgot number one.” [“You shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7]

And the young man went away because his god was wealth. FYI, impoverished people are frequently in the same position, worshiping money, they just don’t have any. How can this be? Look at the sales of lottery tickets in low-income neighborhoods. No one is immune from the love of money. John D. Rockefeller, once the richest man alive, was asked "how much money is enough?" His answer "just a little bit more".

The truth is if I control my life it will be filled with unmet desires and disappointing outcomes regardless of any accomplishments or accumulations. God knows better than me what is best. Step #1 is to abandon your independence, self-righteousness and self-determination and follow Christ.

Take Up Your Cross.

In Jesus’ time there was a clear understanding of this phrase. Someone bearing a cross was on a one-way journey with a known destination. We tend to read this as life will be filled with misery, drudgery, no fun, no enjoyment, just a harsh existence. That is wrong. In fact, many “Christians” pursue misery so they can say, “see how much I’ve suffered”.

To carry your cross means, you are presenting your eternal destination to the world not your misery. Many will hate and abuse you for taking that position, even persecute you to the point of physical death. They do this because they feel threatened, live in fear of not being their own “god” in total control of their lives.  However, there will be those who ask you why and how you are living this way. Your task to tell them (Acts 1:8). The cross is not a symbol of condemnation; it represents eternal salvation.

(Credit to Bill Tell, billtell.com for his insights.)