I. Such were the terms by which Jesus Christ sought to enlist men in His service. They came around Him attracted by His holiness, and curious to know more about Him. He offered them three attractions self-denial, shame, and absolute surrender. Unless they were content with these, they could not enter His army. We have almost lost sight of the strangeness of the summons. "To take up the Cross" has become a religious phrase. We use it almost mechanically; nay, when we are most reverent, we almost hesitate to apply it to the trials of common life. We shrink from applying it to the man of the world, to the man of business, to the man of cultivated intellect, and perhaps it seems to be peculiarly strained if applied to the very young. And yet it contains the very lesson of Christianity.
II. To take up the Cross daily is to be prepared for what is most painful in the attempt to do your duty. The Cross is, like all burdens, heavy, exhausting, crushing. But it is more. It is degrading also. It fills us with shame. It crushes out of us our pride, and all that is false in our darling self-esteem. It makes us think less well of our energies at the very time that it taxes them most severely. It says to us, "You must dare to face this duty;" and in the same breath, "How poor and cowardly you must be to dread it!"
III. Some crosses are visible. They are borne, if borne at all, in the sight of others. With strong natures, pride sometimes comes to the help of conscience, and insidiously lends its strong arm to the support of the burden. But there are other kinds of crosses. There are those which no one ever sees, perhaps never suspects. These are not the least formidable. There is (1) the cross of truthfulness; (2) the cross of self-denial in little things; (3) the cross of humility; (4) the cross of temperance. Each heart has its own cross to bear. To many it is the burden of holding fast by God and leading a cheerful, happy life, in the absence of human sympathy. To be willing to take up the Cross is the very essence of the faith of Christ. By this test we may measure our own progress. No laxity in our practice can ever explain away the declaration of our Master, "He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me."
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons,2nd series, p. 197.