2 October MATTHEW 10

Take up your cross

Matthew 10:38-39(AMP) And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it , and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it .

Matthew 16:24(ESV) Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

We also find this passage in Mark 8:34(AMP) Jesus called the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to follow Me , he must deny himself , and take up his cross and follow Me .

In this passage, we see that the word deny is used. According to Christy Gambrell from Bible and Theology: “the Greek verb translated here as ‘to deny’ is aparneomai. Although this word can mean to deny the truth of a statement, it almost always has overtones of association or connection to a person. Denial in the New Testament is the intentional disassociation from the relationship with a particular person. Another translation, then, might be to ‘disown’ or ‘renounce.’ Self-denial, then, is the intentional disowning of the self or stepping away from the relationship with the self as primary.”

The Dictionary of Bible Themes defines self-denial as: “the willingness to deny oneself possessions or status, in order to grow in holiness and commitment to God.”

Paul knew what it was to deny himself to follow Christ as recorded in Philippians 3:7–8(ESV) But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.