Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me

What Did Jesus Mean? What Does It Mean to Truly Follow Him? What Does It Mean to Crucify the Flesh?

Few statements from Jesus sound more intense — and more misunderstood — than this:

“If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24, WEB).

The phrase is so familiar that it can lose its force. For many, “taking up your cross” has become a metaphor for enduring inconvenience, tolerating a difficult personality, or surviving hardship. But that is not what Jesus meant. When He spoke those words, His listeners did not picture jewelry. They pictured execution.

To understand what it means to take up the cross, we must hear it the way first-century listeners would have heard it.

In the Roman world, the cross was not symbolic of spiritual growth. It was an instrument of death reserved for criminals and rebels. When a condemned man carried his crossbeam through the streets, it meant one thing: he was walking toward death.

So when Jesus says, “take up his cross,” He is not calling for minor self-improvement. He is calling for death — not physical martyrdom necessarily, but the death of self-rule.

The statement appears in multiple Gospels (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23, WEB), which shows how central it was to Jesus’ teaching. Luke’s account adds a word that clarifies the ongoing nature of it: “take up his cross daily” (Luke 9:23, WEB). This is not a one-time emotional decision. It is a continual posture.

But what exactly dies?

Jesus explains in the same context: “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25, WEB). The issue is not the destruction of personality but the surrender of ultimate allegiance. The “life” that must be lost is the self-directed life — the life that insists on autonomy, self-glory, and self-preservation above obedience to Christ.

To take up your cross means to accept that following Christ will cost you your claim to yourself.

It means that your ambitions, your reputation, your comfort, your desires — all of it — must submit to His lordship.

This leads directly to the second question: what does it mean to truly follow Christ?

In the Gospels, following Jesus was literal before it was metaphorical. Disciples left occupations, homes, and security to walk behind Him (Matthew 4:20, WEB). Following meant physical proximity and relational allegiance. But even in those early days, Jesus made clear that external association was not enough.

In John 8:31, Jesus says, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples” (WEB). Following Christ is not defined by momentary enthusiasm but by abiding obedience. It is continuing in His word.

He says again in Luke 14:27, “Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple” (WEB). That language is absolute. There is no category in Jesus’ teaching for a disciple who refuses surrender.

Following Christ means trusting Him as Savior and submitting to Him as Lord. The two cannot be separated. The same Jesus who says, “Come to me… and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, WEB) also says, “Take my yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29, WEB). Rest and yoke belong together. Grace and authority are not opposites.

Now we must address the third question: what does it mean to crucify the flesh?

Paul uses this language in Galatians 5:24: “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (WEB). This statement is not theoretical. It describes something definitive about believers.

The “flesh” in Paul’s writing does not mean the physical body itself. It refers to the fallen nature — the corrupted inclination toward sin that resides within humanity. Earlier in Galatians 5, Paul lists the works of the flesh: sexual immorality, idolatry, jealousy, anger, divisions, envy (Galatians 5:19–21, WEB). These are not external demons; they arise from within.

To crucify the flesh means to decisively reject its authority. It means that when the desires of the flesh rise, they are not obeyed as masters. Romans 6 explains this shift in allegiance. “Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin” (Romans 6:6, WEB). Notice the language. The old self was crucified “with him.” Union with Christ means participation in His death.

This is both positional and practical.

Positionally, believers are united to Christ in His death and resurrection. Sin is no longer their ruler. They are no longer slaves (Romans 6:14, WEB).

Practically, believers must continually live out that reality. Paul commands, “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth” (Colossians 3:5, WEB). You put to death what still tries to assert itself. Crucifixion was a decisive act, but it was also a slow one. That imagery is intentional. The flesh does not die quietly. It resists.

This is why taking up the cross and crucifying the flesh are deeply connected. Both involve death — death to self-rule, death to sinful desire as master, death to the illusion that you belong to yourself.

But this is not a call to self-hatred. It is a call to reordered love.

Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t hate his own father, mother… yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple” (Luke 14:26, WEB). That language is comparative. It means that love for Christ must so surpass all other allegiances that even self-love appears secondary.

Taking up the cross is not about seeking suffering for its own sake. It is about faithfulness even when suffering results. It is not about earning salvation. It is about living as someone who has been saved.

It is also not sinless perfection. The crucifixion of the flesh does not mean the absence of struggle. Galatians 5:17 says, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (WEB). The conflict remains. Crucifying the flesh means refusing to let it reign.

So what does it mean to take up your cross?

It means you no longer define your identity by self-preservation but by allegiance to Christ.

What does it mean to truly follow Him?

It means abiding in His word, obeying His commands, trusting His promises, and enduring with Him — not occasionally, but daily.

What does it mean to crucify the flesh?

It means recognizing that the old self has been nailed to the cross with Christ and refusing to resurrect it as your master.

Jesus does not soften the call. But He does not leave it empty either. Immediately after calling His disciples to lose their lives, He promises that losing life for His sake results in finding it (Matthew 16:25, WEB). The death He calls for leads to life.

Because the cross is not merely an instrument of execution.

It is the doorway to resurrection.