Take Up Your Cross
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. “My question is, in the context of this verse, exactly what does taking up one’s cross refer to?
Q. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
(Matthew 16:24, KJV)
My question is, in the context of this verse, exactly what does taking up one’s cross refer to? Does it mean bearing infirmities or illness,
and if so, how does this square with your Selah articles regarding healing?
A. In the passage surrounding Matt 16:24, Peter was arguing with the Lord about the need to give up His life, saying in effect that he would protect the Lord, which he later tried to do (Matt. 26:51). Jesus accused him of seeing things as man does, not as God does.
He had agreed to die for our sins before the foundation of the world, and Peter’s loyalty was misplaced, having the effect of putting the control of events in his hands not God’s.
The phrase “deny Himself and take up his cross” means that a follower of Jesus needs to abandon his will in favor of God’s will for him. In Romans 12:1-2 Paul described this as presenting our whole beings as living sacrifices, refusing to be conformed to the patterns of this world but being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
If by your question you’re asking if God makes some people sick and then demands that they bear their sickness for Him, that would be a reversal of the promise of Isaiah 53:4. Jesus took up our infirmities (sickness) and carried our sorrows (grief) not the other way around. Sickness and death came into the world as a result of sin. We’re all sinners and we all live in a sinful place. It’s a case of cause and effect.
It is true that some people take personal health tragedies and turn them into incredible demonstrations of God’s grace, but to say that God orchestrated their illness for that purpose is to question His word that the punishment He endured was for our peace, and the wounds He received were for the purpose of healing us. (Isaiah 53:5).
