The Daily Cross

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 78, The Daily Cross.

Luke 9:23. Listen carefully: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Take up his cross daily. And follow me.

I want those words to settle slowly in you today — because Jesus is not describing meaningless suffering. He is describing the most alive way to live that has ever been offered to a human soul.

Notice how He begins. He does not say "all of you will carry a cross." He says: if anyone would. That is an invitation. There is enormous tenderness in that. The cross is never forced on you. It is offered — to those who want to draw close, to those who are hungry to walk near Him. And that choice, my friend, begins with you.

But what does it mean to deny yourself? Because many people hear that and think Jesus is asking you to despise yourself, to erase yourself, to believe you are worth nothing. That is not it at all. To deny yourself is something else entirely. It is to step down from the throne. It is to recognize that someone has been sitting at the center of your life, making every decision — and that someone was you. To deny yourself is to step down from that seat, willingly, and say: "Lord, that throne is yours. It always was."

And then comes the word that only Luke recorded. Only Luke. Among the four gospels, it is Luke who insists on this word: daily. Not once. Not at a conversion, not at a powerful church service. Daily. Every morning, the surrender is renewed. That changes everything. Because it means that yesterday you yielded — and today you yield again. That is not weakness; that is faithfulness. It is the quietest and most powerful discipline there is: to wake up and choose, one more time, who occupies the center.

And the cross — that weight that looks so heavy from the outside — strangely, it weighs less than what it replaces. You already know the exhaustion of carrying your own will through an entire day. The weight of being the center of everything, of defending your ego, of protecting your preferences at every turn. That drains you. The cross weighs less than that. Carrying His will costs less than dragging your own.

But notice: the cross is not carried standing still. Jesus says: follow me. There is a direction. There is a Master out in front. You do not carry your cross wandering aimlessly — you carry it in His footsteps, right behind Him. And that transforms the weight into purpose.

So here is the call for today. Before breakfast. Before your phone, before the noise of the day begins — stop. Name one thing. One preference of yours, one plan of yours, one will of yours that you are going to lay down today. Give it a name. And then say it out loud — yes, out loud — tell the Lord Jesus: "Today I follow You."

It does not have to be a long prayer. It is a yes. One yes, said in the morning, before the day gets going, that changes the direction of everything.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.