Take Up Your Cross

Luke 14:27 states thus, "And whoever does not bear his cross and comes after Me cannot be My disciple." I remember learning a couple different interpretations of this verse. I heard that the word "cross" was put here to mean all the hardship that we will endure. We are to embrace hardship for Christ. Also, the cross can be seen as direct conformity to Jesus Christ. He carried a cross out of obedience to God, and we must do likewise. It was like his cup, that he talked about earlier (Luke 22:41-42 "And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying 'Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.' "). If we relate the cross to being "His cup", then we can see it as an act of submission to the will of God.
As these are all true, my favorite is the fact that the cross was an instrument of torture that was used by the Romans. While we submit to God's plan and embrace the hardship, we choose our instrument of torture for Christ. I think that is a pretty stellar view of the Christian walk.
For a long time, I had the words <Take Up My Cross> as the signature for my phone. After every text I sent, it would show that little phrase. I recently changed it to another verse (Luke 14:33) but those four words are still very important to me, but yet, are they important enough? Jesus Christ embraced God's plan for His life, even though He didn't like it. He carried his instrument of torture and endured until the very end. We must do likewise.
What does this look like practically? We share what we learn from the Word every hour of our day, but if it doesn't effect the way we walk, then what is the point? Maybe it's those friends you have, who say they love the Lord, but after they walk out the doors of the church, they talk about the dirtiest things possible. If you ask them to stop, or protect the name of God from being used in vain, they may hate you. This indeed can be hurtful and hard. Face it. It's so much easier to make jokes with them, then to refrain from laughing and tell them to stop.
Most of all, and this is something I struggle with the most, is getting into the Word and having a strong prayer life. This is the essence of Christianity. It's where our relationship with God is made. When you consume yourself with God and His word, He will tell you to do hard things, Lord Willing. Chase after Him, as I do the same, in order to hear from Him constantly.
Be willing to Take Up Your Cross. - Forsake All