Take Up Your Cross

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must
deny themselves and
take up their cross and

follow me.

Mark 8:34

My small group met last night for the first time on the study Made to Crave. It was such a wonderful time....the fellowship, the sharing. I love it when new people show up, they bring a whole new dimension to the group.

Great are God's girls!

Lysa was speaking on denial on feeling empowered rather than deprived with our healthy food choices and included the verse above.

When breaking it down, we see the "deny self" - this commands us to deny our selfish, fleshly desires, pretty straight forward though not always done.

The second part is often misinterpreted. Upon exploration in our Life Application Bible, we learned that the prisoners in Roman times were made to carry their own cross before they were crucified (the death penalty of choice in that period), this time of carrying was to signify their submission to the Roman government as the highest authority.

The final command is to "follow me." One small sentence, buried deep in Mark, gives us the whole plan of salvation:

Deny yourself and fleshly wants
Submit yourself to the highest authority,
and Follow Him.

God makes it sooo simple, don't make it harder than it is!

If you're ready, feel free to hit the big red button....
don't make it hard...
why GIVE UP something for Lent when
you could RECEIVE something so much better!

Many blessings,
E