Sermon Cloud

The cross is a symbol of suffering and death. And when Jesus asked His disciples to take up their crosses in Matthew 16:24, thoughts of difficulty, danger, and even death might have entered their minds having witnessed the Roman practice of crucifixion. In the context of this passage, the cross is clearly referring to Jesus’ own proclamation of His impending suffering and death—His main mission that the disciples had not yet realized at the time. Don’t think one moment that Jesus is asking you to die the death that He already ‘died’ for you. Instead, He asks you to deny yourself or give total control of your life over to Him. To take up your own cross is to actually live—in a different way—a life of willing obedience and surrender to His lordship.