Luke 14:27: “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

February 25th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We must remind ourselves that the image Jesus used here of the cross was the preferred instrument of capital punishment by 1st-century Romans. Sometimes we hear people who are going through difficult times say, “I guess that’s a cross I have to bear.” They are usually speaking about circumstances and situations that they wouldn’t want to go through if they had a choice. Of course we have all found ourselves in tragic situations that we would rather have avoided, but that is not what Jesus meant when He spoke of bearing a cross.

When we suffer from sickness, disease, or mental anguish, it might be a horrible affliction or tragedy, but it is not bearing a cross. First and foremost, bearing a cross is an act of volition. It is a choice, a voluntary form of sacrificial obedience that identifies us completely with Jesus Christ. Bearing our cross is not simply making the best of a bad or uncomfortable circumstance, it is something we deliberately take up and choose to carry because of our relationship with God.

Those listening to Jesus that day understood that to take up one’s cross was to begin a death march. He did not mean that every disciple will be martyred, but that every disciple must lay down everything in their life for Him. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world . . . As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

In many ways, a dead person is set free.

“LORD, we want to be completely set free, so we chose to take up our cross and follow You this day.”