What did Jesus mean when He said “Take up your Cross and Follow Me”?

October 29, 2026

When Jesus commanded His followers to “take up your cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23), He was calling for complete self-denial and a willingness to suffer or die for His sake, rather than merely enduring minor daily inconveniences. In the first-century Roman context, carrying a cross was a symbol of execution and shame, meaning the person was already condemned to death; thus, Jesus’ instruction signified absolute surrender of one’s own desires, pride, and life to God.

Key aspects of this command include:

Dying to Self: It requires abandoning selfish interests and submitting one’s will entirely to God’s, effectively ending the “old life” of sin and self-centeredness.
Daily Commitment: While it may have meant literal martyrdom for early believers, it is also a daily mindset of choosing obedience to Christ over personal comfort, cultural approval, or safety.
Following Jesus: The command is inseparable from “following Me,” implying that discipleship involves imitating Christ’s humility and sacrifice and identifying publicly with Him, regardless of the cost.
The Paradox of Life: Jesus taught that those who try to save their physical life will lose it, but those who lose their life for His sake will find true, eternal life.

What Does The KJV Bible Say?

When Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24, KJV), He was laying down the ultimate, radical paradox of discipleship: a call to absolute self-surrender, willingness to suffer, and the execution of the ego’s self-governance in exchange for unconditional alignment with God. To a first-century audience, the cross was not a metaphor for minor inconveniences or emotional baggage—it was a literal instrument of public execution and absolute submission to an ultimate authority.

The KJV Synoptic Framework

The call to take up the cross appears across the Synoptic Gospels. In the King James Version, these foundational verses explicitly establish the requirements of a true follower.

Gospel Passage	King James Version (KJV) Text	Core Discipleship Imperative
Matthew 16:24	“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.”	Self-Denial & Alignment: The prerequisite condition to initiating a true relationship with Christ.
Mark 8:34	“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”	Universal Scope: Reaches beyond the inner circle of disciples to the generic “whosoever.”
Luke 9:23	“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”	Continuity: Adds the critical word “daily,” shifting the act from a singular martyrdom to an ongoing lifestyle.

10 Practical Examples of “Taking Up Your Cross”

Reprioritizing Core Ambitions: Walking away from a lucrative career or personal dream if it compromises biblical morality or prevents an explicit call to ministry.
Enduring Social Ostracization: Accepting the loss of friendships, professional status, or family approval for maintaining public loyalty to Christ’s teachings.
Submitting Material Wealth: Choosing to live sacrificially and generously, counting worldly status as nothing compared to kingdom investments.
Forgiving Serious Wrongs: Releasing bitterness and choosing to forgive an abusive or toxic adversary, entirely surrendering the fleshly right to vengeance.
Embracing Daily Routine Duties: Joyfully serving an ailing family member or doing mundane, unnoticed chores with a spirit of devotion rather than resentment.
Mortifying Persistent Sin: Actively cutting off toxic habits, addictions, or secret compromises, dealing with personal temptation as a life-or-death battle.
Suffering Physical Persecution: Standing firm in faith even when faced with bodily threats, imprisonment, or geopolitical danger.
Silencing Self-Justification: Remaining quiet and humble when falsely accused or slandered, relying on God as the ultimate vindicator.
Living in Uncomfortable Spaces: Relocating or stepping far outside your comfort zone to fulfill an obligation of service or community relief.
Surrendering Autonomy in Decision-Making: Submitting major life choices—such as marriage, career, or moving—completely to prayer and scriptural alignment over personal desire.

Analytical Reports: Six Perspectives on the Cross

1. The Myers-Briggs (MBTI) Analyst Report

The Analytical Framework: MBTI views “taking up the cross” through the cognitive dynamics of self-actualization and personal development. For Judgers (J) and Rationals (NT), the cross means dismantling structural rigidity, control, and intellectual pride to submit to a sovereign paradigm. For Feelers (F), it means establishing boundaries against codependency to suffer exclusively for true transcendent objective reality rather than keeping a false peace.
The Core Paradox: It challenges the Ego-Self axis. Taking up the cross forces the individual to operationalize their inferior traits (e.g., forcing a dominant Thinker to engage deeply with sacrificial, empathetic value systems, or an Intuitive to sit in the heavy, crushing realism of physical suffering). It is the voluntary death of the preferred archetype to build integrated psychological maturity.

2. The John MacArthur Analyst Report

The Theological Pillar: This is a definitive command of Lordship Salvation. MacArthur emphasizes that saving faith cannot be separated from a surrender to the absolute lordship of Christ. Taking up the cross is not a secondary tier of “advanced Christianity”; it is the literal entrance fee to salvation.
The Verdict: To take up the cross means to sign your own death warrant. In antiquity, when a man picked up a cross, he was not coming back; he was walking to his execution. MacArthur clarifies that this text demands the total demolition of self-righteousness, self-will, and self-seeking. If there is no willingness to abandon everything for Christ, there is no true conversion.

3. The Paul Washer Analyst Report

The Radical Call: Washer frames this passage as a devastating critique of superficial, easy-believism modern religion. He focuses intensely on the holiness of God and the terrifying gravity of the human heart’s depravity.
The Verdict: The cross is a sign of radical, holy execution. For Washer, taking up the cross results in an immediate, ongoing manifestation of a changed life. If a person claims to follow Christ but remains a lover of self, the world, and comfort, they are self-deceived. True discipleship is a violent break from the spirit of the age, characterized by weeping over sin, fear of God, and an agonizingly beautiful devotion to Christ’s honor.

4. The Greg Schad Analyst Report

The Clinical-Pastoral Dynamic: Greg Schad, an experienced family therapist and Christian counselor, analyzes this concept through the lens of relational reconciliation and emotional transformation.
The Verdict: Schad looks at how the internal heart translates into external behavior. Taking up the cross means identifying where our personal defense mechanisms, unresolved trauma, and protective walls create interpersonal dysfunction. It requires dying to our instinct to blame others, protect our pride, or hide our vulnerabilities. By surrendering these toxic strategies to God, we find the internal emotional healing that allows us to engage in healthy, self-sacrificing relationships with those around us.

5. The Jordan Peterson Analyst Report

The Pragmatic Existential Perspective: Peterson views the statement as a profound mythological and existential truth. To him, the cross represents the archetypal center of suffering and malevolence that characterizes human existence.
The Verdict: Life is intrinsically tragic and full of suffering. Jesus’s command is an instruction to stop running away from the arbitrary heavy burdens of existence. To “take up your cross” means to voluntarily accept the maximum possible burden of responsibility for yourself, your family, and the world, without becoming bitter, resentful, or nihilistic. By voluntarily confronting the ultimate vulnerability of life, you transcend it.

6. The Carl Jung Analyst Report

The Psychological Individuation Archetype: Jung approaches the phrase as an essential formula for the process of individuation. The cross represents the union of opposites—the vertical axis intersecting the horizontal axis, mirroring the tension between the conscious ego and the vast unconscious.
The Verdict: To deny oneself is to intentionally confront and integrate the Shadow rather than projecting our flaws onto others. The cross is the necessary, agonizing crucible where the fragile, artificial Ego must be crucified so that the true, deeper Self (the divine spark within, aligned with the Imago Dei) can emerge. True psychological wholeness requires going through this symbolic death and rebirth.

As You seek understanding and clarity in your life you should always turn to your Heavenly Father for Guidance

Table of Contents

Youtube Video (Todays Message)
Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?
Women are looking for a fathers love
Spiritual Order – In The Family and Church
How God Commands Us To Forgive Those Who We Have Resentment Toward
Join Our Newsletter
Top Seven Articles
Our Mission Statement
Our Vision
Tithing And Giving!

When Tithing please give what you feel is good to the amount we are helping you in your spiritual life.

Here is a YouTube video to help theses who need to understand someone explaining the important message, the YouTube video is called, “What did Jesus mean when He said “Take up your Cross and Follow Me””, This video is with Discernment Made Clear YouTube Channel:

Note: MadeManMinistries.com has no relations with Discernment Made Clear YouTube Channel, but MadeManMinistries.com enjoys sharing the word.

Note: We do use YouTube Video’s under the “Fair Use” Act under the Copyright Law:

“Fair use is a doctrine in the United States copyright law codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.¹ It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author’s work without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship.⁰¹ The U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index should prove helpful in understanding what courts have to date considered to be fair or not fair but it is not a substitute for legal advice.²“

Father God, Let Your Will Be Done, Not My Will mademanministries

This is a major important point about forgiveness

Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. -MATTHEW 5:24 KJV

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

I would start out by saying what Jesus Christ would want us to do? Pray and how should we pray? The Lord’s Prayer, and how often should we pray? Continually. Why do we use the Lord’s Prayer and not some other? The Lord’s Prayer covers all the areas that is important for our spiritual being.

When we pray the Lords prayer we ask to forgive our enemies, let God’s will be done, the kingdom to come. By praying the Lord’s prayer we let go of many thoughts we have in our head and give them back to God so we can have things revealed to us.

We must overcome resentment in our heart, and in a past video I shared about Dr. Jordan Peterson talks about how resentment can destroy us and we become our own very worst enemy and Jordan goes on to say that we must talk to people what we have resentment toward to overcome that resentment. Other people who lived in the past who talked about this is Jesus Christ and someone who is living now who talks about this daily is Brother Augustine, Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. Charles Stanley, Rev. John Piper and Pastor Paul Washer.

Women are looking for a fathers love

Women are looking for a fathers love. Its important that men understand women are looking for a fathers love and not get screwed. Woman more than anything are looking for a strong spiritual man to lead the future (the family). I think in many YouTube videos on biblical teachings, how young women are being hurt by men that are just looking to get laid instead of doing right and being in Christ and setting a good example of a strong man. We must be in Christ, hate no one, love all, forgave theses we resent, love what is right and support people who are walking with God.

Women need their fathers in their lives to be strong man to be good examples and not BETA men or weak examples of what a man should be. Its important that a man leads the way as Christ leads men, we as man need to fellow Jesus Christ to keep society from going to HELL.

Every day you can see or people watch how some men and women our living in hell without the right spiritual order then you will continue your hellish way according to 2 Peter. You can also find it in Romans. God will give you over to a reprobate mind.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. – Romans 1:28 (KJV)

In Romans 1, Paul refers to something known as a reprobate mind. If you’re not familiar with the term reprobate, the literal definition in the Greek is failing to pass the test, unapproved, counterfeit.

Spiritual Order – In The Family and Church

God the father

Jesus Christ

Father (Men over women)

Mother (Women over children)

Here is Book, Chapter and Verse from the Kings James Version 1 Corinthian 11:2-16, But the main message is in 1 Corinthian 11:3: “³But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”

A Woman Conferring The Spiritual Order According to Saint Paul And How The War On The Family Is Being Wage:

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How God Commands Us To Forgive Those Who We Have Resentment Toward.

All of us are tested everyday by our personal internal struggle coming from resentment of what happened earlier in our lives as children typically what our mother did to us, telling how our fathers were not good enough or driving us away from our fathers when we were children. We most go to the people that we have resentment against and forgive them. By forgiving our mothers or whoever we have resentment against, God will forgive us and we can return to the heavenly Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It was said if you don’t love everyone then you love no one. People today live like the Old Testament people did. We must forgive and love everyone as God Commanded us to do according to Matthew 22:34-40.

After Reading The Passage I would Recommend Doing A Silent Prayer

Its is said: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 King James Version (KJV)

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In a world where it is so easy to forget the importance of God, we must remember that He is holy and will not share His glory. America has forgotten this truth and it is time for us to re-examine our relationship with God and recognize that He is the one true God who deserves our full devotion and reverence. We must remember that He will not be taken lightly or ignored, but rather should be honored as the Creator of all things. Only then can we truly experience His love and grace in our lives.

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