Take Up His Cross — sacred illustration
✶ Our Bible Moments No. 280 / 280

Praise & Thanks

Take Up His Cross

Mark 8:34-36

Mark 8:34-36 is Jesus’ call to follow Him at any cost. Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Lord Jesus, You call me to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow You. Help me give my life for Your sake and the gospel. Keep me from gaining the whole world and forfeiting my soul. I will follow You today. Amen.

Mark 8:34-36 is Jesus’ call to follow Him at any cost. Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

The Scripture

“Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

— Mark 8:34-36

Prayer points from Mark 8:34-36

  1. Tell Him what you are tempted to hold on to instead of Him.
  2. Ask Him for strength to deny yourself and take up your cross today.
  3. Give Him your plans, your time, and your future.
  4. Ask Him to show you what truly matters for your soul.
  5. Pray for someone who is chasing the world and feels empty.
  6. Thank Him that whoever loses his life for His sake will save it.

About this verse

On the road to the villages around Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks His disciples who people say He is, and Peter answers that He is the Christ. Then Jesus begins to teach them plainly that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected, be killed, and after three days rise again. Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him, and Jesus rebukes Peter in return: he has in mind the things of men, not the things of God. Right after this, Jesus calls the whole crowd to Him along with His disciples. Following Him means denying yourself, taking up your cross, and walking after Him. Trying to hold on to your life is how you lose it, and losing it for His sake and the gospel is how you save it. Then He asks what anyone gains by winning the whole world but forfeiting his soul. It is a prayer for anyone who wants to follow Him with their whole life.

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