Pick Up Your Cross

He never told you to carry His cross.

“And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’” (Luke 9:23)

Jesus did not say, “Pick up My cross.” That cross was His alone. No one could share in what He came to do. Scripture says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). That is not your work and it is not mine. Christ alone bore sin. Christ alone stood in our place. Christ alone could say, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

But when He turned to those who would follow Him, He did not say to admire His cross. He said to take up your own.

That means following Jesus is not just believing He died. It means agreeing to die too. Not for sin. Not as a savior. But to self. To pride. To your own will. To the life you keep trying to protect. Jesus said, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it” (Luke 9:24). That is where this gets serious. A man can speak about grace all day long and still refuse the death of self.

Paul understood this. He wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). That is not the language of a man who added Jesus to his life. That is the language of a man whose old life was put on the altar.

This is the part many want to skip. They want forgiveness without surrender. They want salvation without obedience. They want the benefits of His cross without the cost of carrying theirs. But Jesus did not leave room for that kind of religion. He said, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).

Your cross is not a burden you complain about. It is the daily death of self for the sake of following Christ. It is where your flesh says no and your obedience says yes. It is where empty profession dies and real discipleship begins.

His cross was for atonement.

Your cross is for surrender.

And if a man will not carry his, he should stop pretending he is following the One who told him to. That may sound hard, but it is only hard because we have gotten used to a version of faith that asks for very little. Jesus did not speak that way. He called people to deny themselves, to follow Him at a cost, and He never lowered that standard. So ask yourself this. What have you actually denied? Where is the evidence of your cross?

If your life still revolves around your will, your comfort, and your control, then be honest about it, because a faith that costs you nothing has never picked up a cross, and a man who refuses the cross is not following Christ, no matter what he claims.

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“What I write is not for everyone, but what I write is meant for someone.” – Dean Butler

This work may be shared for ministry or personal use, but please credit the author when doing so. © Dean Butler