5 Ways to Accept Your Daily Cross

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’” (Mt 16:24)

On September 14th, the Church celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast commemorates the recovery of the Holy Cross, which had been placed on Mt. Calvary by St. Helena and preserved in Jerusalem.

On this feast day especially, Our Holy Mother Church sings of the triumph of the Cross, the instrument of our redemption. To follow Christ means we must take up our daily cross, follow Him and become obedient until death, even if it means death on the cross. We identify with Christ on the Cross and become co-redeemers, sharing in His cross.

Here are 5 ways you can find and accept your daily cross, in order to follow in the footsteps of Christ:

1. Obedience to God

“He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:8)

When Jesus took up his cross, he did so with great humility and obedience to his Father. He put God’s will and His love for us above himself– to the point of death.

Taking up our cross means putting aside our selfish desires, and following God’s will for our lives. This doesn’t squash our personality or happiness. Incredibly, just the opposite happens. We find our life’s fulfillment, contentment (even in trials), and unspeakable joy.

2. Guard Your Thoughts

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil 4:8)

When unpleasant, dissatisfied, grumbling, critical thoughts enter our minds, we have a choice. We can let them rule over us, or we can deny them further access and refuse to dwell on them. Denying these thought processes; refusing to give in to them, is a way to take up your cross.

This takes practice and self control, but as long as we are consistent, it gets easier to recognize them for what they are, brush them aside and fill our minds with the positive things Paul mentions.

3. Practice Self-Denial

“Now those who belong to Christ [Jesus] have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal 5:24)

The words ‘deny ourselves’ sounds like a punishment at first glance. It sounds like we have to throw away all our comforts and carry a heavy burden. But denying yourself is not the same as self-denial.

On the other hand, when we deny self, we make the choice to replace our desires, thoughts, and plans with God’s thoughts and purposes. We live our lives centered on considering others first before ourselves.

Jesus was the perfect example and when we choose to follow him we agree to live as He did. This means accepting the call to do things you normally wouldn’t do.

4. Put on the New Self

“Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.” (Col 3:9-10)

Paul wrote to the Colossians from prison and gave them actionable and practical ways to take up their daily cross and show Christ’s love (Col 3:5-17). He gave them a list of sins to avoid or “put to death” and explains the damage they cause.

He followed that up with a list of ways we can live for Jesus in our daily lives:

• Show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness.
• Choose (yes, it’s a choice we can make) the peace of Jesus to rule your heart, not conflict, fear, jealousy, etc.
• Be thankful. Make gratitude a priority and a daily practice and watch your focus turn towards the many blessings we receive.
• Let the word of Christ “dwell in you richly”- completely fill your lives. Paul and the early Christians had no New Testaments to read from as we do, so they retold the stories, sang them in songs, prayed together and shared their wisdom. We have so many more opportunities to dwell in His Word.