Disciples of Jesus know they must take up their cross daily. But do you understand what that means? No one survives the cross. Not even the physical body of Jesus. The cross is an unequivocal representation of death. To pick up our cross daily necessitates that we die each day. Every day we must completely surrender what we want to do. All our hopes, dreams and ambitions are dead to us. Every relationship is dead. The cross spares nothing.
As you die to self, the cross strips everything away. We can hold on to nothing. It all goes. Every day. I’d wager few of us live like this. How many of us even pick up our cross? At best, we give it a casual glance before continuing with our plans. Very few of us are dying to live each day. If this is as true for you as it is for me, we are a long way from being able to call ourselves disciples of Jesus.