We must remember, It’s not enough to simply pick up our cross! Many pick up a Cross, only to lay it down at their own convenience. Many tuck it over to the side nice and neat, only to get it out when in trouble! Many wear the Cross on a chain, yet won’t carry it on their shoulders! We must be willing to pick it up and carry it each and everyday of our lives! When in weakness, we must never let go! When in strength, we must remember It’s by His Strength we are made strong! The proof we are His Chosen is not by picking up the Cross: No, the proof is staying on the Cross until the work is complete! Until we die a natural death, or taken up in the Rapture of The Church, our work isn’t over! We must crucify the flesh on our own cross each and everyday! We must be willing to die to self, and submit to the will of our Heavenly Father! As in the words of Matthew Henry: We must live a life of self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the world; we must not indulge our ease and appetite, for then it will be hard to bear toil, and weariness, and want, for Christ. We are daily subject to affliction, and we must accommodate ourselves to it, and acquiesce in the will of God in it, and must learn to endure hardship. We frequently meet with crosses in the way of duty; and, though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up, carry them after Christ, and make the best of them. Dear Brethren, We must live each and every day with God’s Kingdom in the forefront of our minds! Whose Kingdom are you laboring in today? Where are you storing Treasures? The stark reality is, Many will be called, but few chosen! Many will say, Lord Lord…only to hear the dreaded words, I never knew you!!! You’ve got a Cross to Carry!!! 

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? -Jesus

Matthew 10:38,39 (KJV)
_”38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Mark 8:34-38 (KJV)
_” 34 And when he had called the people [unto him] with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.