Taking Up Your Cross

"Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 10:21 NKJV) God says we are to get rid of all our possesions first, then take up our cross and follow Him. At first glance it sounds like he wants us to be poor, take upon a lot of burdens, and then follow Him. But, that's not totally correct. What God wants us to do is for us to let go of all our worldly ways and ties to them, so that we can be totally free of our past. By doing so, this opens us to concentrate on completely following God and receiving our Heavenly rewards. In addition, when we give to others we get back more in return than we gave...joy, feelings of contribution, etc., to name a few. As for taking up the cross, most importantly it means that when we choose to follow God, we take upon the pain and suffering Jesus felt when He was hung on the cross and died for our sins. We become a part of Him, and therefore part of what He went through. It also means He wants us to take up HIS causes and what's important to Him, and not that of the world. God does want us to have wonderful and beautiful things, but in order to make room room for them, we must first rid ourselves of all our old ways and things. We must first "clean house!" Love, Beau