Taking Up Your Cross (Mark 8:34-38)

Over the many years of being a Christian, I have heard messages preached on this topic.  Many with the greatest of intentions have tried to identify the meaning of this passage.  They have focused on the cross and its meaning and with that understood, they try to parallel the meaning of the cross to the life of a Christian.  They held that the cross represented a burden carried for the good of others.  Some saw it as a representative of death and that bearing the cross would be accomplished by living a life dead to self.  Each of these ideas for application are important aspects of the Christian life, but are not a true representative of this passage's meaning.

The events in this passage contain a conversation with the disciples about whom the people and the disciples believed Jesus to be.  While speaking, he admonished them about following or associating themselves with him and not trying to save or protect their own lives and then he makes this statement, "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."  From this passage, it appears to be that taking up your cross is to identify yourself with Jesus (following Jesus) and not to be ashamed of Him.  

What would make a person be ashamed of being identified with Jesus?  People become ashamed of Jesus when they become concerned about what others think of them.  That is what causes them to cave in to pressures among peers or at work.  They are afraid to resist gossip, dirty jokes or of joining the complaining crowd.  We don't act as we should for fear of being rejected because of our identification with Christ, but as we do that, we have rejected Christ and his will to work in our lives.  The latter is the greater of sins.

Live in the realm of the Lord's presence in your life.  If you continually focus on him and what he has been doing in your life, your perspective about life, others and what they think will be changed.