Picking up our crosses

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Jesus tells us to renounce ourselves to follow him,

“If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for me will save it.” - Mark 8.34-5

I was told once that our cross is our hardship. Is this accurate?

Could it be that Jesus did not literally mean we must die, but rather that we must deny our pride and stop pretending to others that we are greater than we really are - that once we are honest about our personal disadvantage(s), we can begin to live an honest and therefore fulfilled and righteous life?
 
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment
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We must die physical death, just as Christ did.
Then we will be judged, based upon how well we denied our own passions in favor of God.
 
there is only one way into heaven?

That is, far as we know, believing in God who forgives our sins.
 
vz71 said:
We must die physical death, just as Christ did.
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Of course, but this is not what Jesus was talking about, because he said we must renounce our lives TO follow him. Not, follow him and then renounce our lives.
 
carlysrose said:
Could it be that Jesus did not literally mean we must die, but rather that we must deny our pride and stop pretending to others that we are greater than we really are - that once we are honest about our personal disadvantage(s), we can begin to live an honest and therefore fulfilled and righteous life?
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It’s also about “dying to self”
 
carlysrose said:
Jesus tells us to renounce ourselves to follow him,

“If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for me will save it.” - Mark 8.34-5

I was told once that our cross is our hardship. Is this accurate?

Could it be that Jesus did not literally mean we must die, but rather that we must deny our pride and stop pretending to others that we are greater than we really are - that once we are honest about our personal disadvantage(s), we can begin to live an honest and therefore fulfilled and righteous life?
Click to expand...
To bear our own cross is to live righteous unto death. And if we are to live righteous we are to face hardship because the world is against the righteous.
 
This as all about surrendering to Gods will. A tough challenge for many, but the only way to turn to him, and put yourself in his hands, regardless of the outcome. That’s where our trust must be…
 
carlysrose said:
Jesus tells us to renounce ourselves to follow him,

“If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for me will save it.” - Mark 8.34-5

I was told once that our cross is our hardship. Is this accurate?

Could it be that Jesus did not literally mean we must die, but rather that we must deny our pride and stop pretending to others that we are greater than we really are - that once we are honest about our personal disadvantage(s), we can begin to live an honest and therefore fulfilled and righteous life?
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What are your thoughts on the following understanding of the Cross?

My greatest passion in life is to perfect the Beauty of carrying the Cross:

Happiness is universal to every human being. We can know this because every person wants, and the act and fulfillment of wanting causes happiness. But in order to have happiness, there must first be peace. Without peace, happiness is lost. In order to have peace, there must be patience and to have happiness, there must be kindness. Which is why Jesus said the Greatest is Charity/Love, where it is patient and kind.

Then expand this and we recognize that a society of ignorant people will fail at being patient and kind all the time, which causes the loss of peace and happiness in the society to some individuals.

The beauty of the Cross is that when in the face of impatience and meanness, one will desire and choose to react with patience and kindness in order to restore peace and happiness in the society in such a humble and serving manner. This is how there will be an unbreakable peace in Heaven and a limitless happiness.

Jesus Christ demonstrates this perfectly during His Crucifixion.

What is hard about the Cross, is that we each have individual wants, but in order to carry the cross, we must not only deny our desires, we must change them to be that of wanting to serve in order to restore peace and happiness.
And as mentioned earlier, we all must physically die to get to Heaven, so He definitely meant it physically.

And the challenges you mentioned are definitely great. It is amazing the depth of Pride in our lives! What an incredible challenge to overcome!

Thanks for asking such a great question! It was a pleasure writing about it, so thanks for making my day better!
 
Sacred_Heart said:
To bear our own cross is to live righteous unto death. And if we are to live righteous we are to face hardship because the world is against the righteous.
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I disagree, because if someone is mistreating me, that is THEIR problem, not mine; therefore, it is not my cross.
 
Creo said:
This as all about surrendering to Gods will. A tough challenge for many, but the only way to turn to him, and put yourself in his hands, regardless of the outcome. That’s where our trust must be…
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So yes, I would say that this is the other side of the coin to my question.

Does picking up our cross mean a life of austerity, or is it being humble to the point that we admit we are flawed?
 
vz71 said:
My second line specifies what we are judged on.

This should make clear what I am saying the ‘pick up your cross and follow me’ is all about.
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So, our sufferings.

This is too ambiguous for me, because our sufferings are our hardships, and to give up any materialism or good foods is also suffering.

Does that make sense? I feel that the thread is going in 2 directions right now, which is what I was expecting/planning. I find that your post on our passions is unclear on which route that has so far been presented.
 
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