Jesus shouldered the heavy cross and staggered along after the Roman soldiers. It wasn’t the first cross that Jesus had faced.   As a minister, He had put others needs before His own, and made a thousand selfless choices before he finally took up the final and greatest cross for us. Embracing the Cross is really dying to a self so as to bring life and blessing to others. Jesus embraced the cross among the ancient olive trees as he was tested with the will of God which He ultimately held fast to. To be under Christ’s authority means to be a follower of Jesus.  It means to accept the Cross daily and die to self. Jesus said that anybody that wanted to follow Him had to first deny himself and take up his cross.  Our submission to God is not tested, till the cross is presented.  Jesus was submitted to the will of God at all times but it was supremely tested in the garden. The cross tests or willingness to be a Christian and a follower of Christ. There can be no cross-less followers.  No one following the lamb! We have this idea that disciples are one step up the ecosystem of believer or Christians. We need to destroy this notion.  Christians and disciples are to be the same people.

Friend, if you are a Christian; you are a disciple and it is only possible to follow Jesus if we carry our cross.