Matthew 16:24 English Standard Version
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Here is an answer to what Jesus meant when He said “if anyone would come after me.”
John 14:12 English Standard Version (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
I will not limit God’s ability to speak meaning into a disciple’s heart as to any personal meaning. This is why I said, here is an answer, not the answer.
Jesus was going to be with the Father and would not be coming again until the end of the church age. As such we come after Christ to perform the duties of church age priests. “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” Heb.7:17
This is an order, i.e. disciples, which has a continuing duty to serve the people after the likeness of the founder.
Now is the time to address our personal cross which we must take up. Our cross is not the cross of Christ. That cross was the symbol of His propitiation for us and the forgiveness of all sin. Our personal cross cannot replicate the act of God performed that day. It is a personal symbol for making personal sacrifices in our lives. Those sacrifices do nothing to save our soul but rather indicates a preference for the needs of others over our own needs.
Carry the cross with humility, never ask anyone to carry it. If we crumble under the weight of it another Simon will come along by the grace of God, to help. We bare one another’s burdens in this way.
As this is one answer, do not allow it to limit God’s ability to speak to us in personal perspectives.