What Does the Bible Say About Taking Up Your Cross?

Luke 9:23 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Matthew 16:24 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 3:30 ESV / 4 helpful votes

He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Romans 12:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Acts 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Mark 8:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Matthew 10:37 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Revelation 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 3:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

1 John 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

1 John 2:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

1 John 1:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Galatians 5:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:1-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ...

2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

2 Corinthians 4:1-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ...

1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

Romans 6:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Acts 17:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Acts 5:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

Acts 2:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 8:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 6:53 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

John 5:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 3:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

John 1:1-51 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ...

Luke 17:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Remember Lot's wife.

Luke 14:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,

Luke 10:25-37 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ...

Luke 9:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 6:46 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Mark 10:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Matthew 25:1-46 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ...

Matthew 19:1-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ...

Matthew 18:1-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, ...

Matthew 11:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 10:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Matthew 7:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 7:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. ...

Matthew 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Isaiah 54:1-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. ...

Isaiah 11:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. ...

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

Numbers 6:24-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

53 Bible Verses about Taking Up Your Cross

Luke 9:23 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 16:24 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:30 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 8:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 10:37 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 3:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 1:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:1-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 4:1-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 6:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 17:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 5:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 2:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 8:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 6:53 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 5:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:1-51 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 17:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 14:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 14:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 10:25-37 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 9:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 6:46 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 10:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 25:1-46 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:1-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 18:1-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 11:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 10:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 54:1-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 11:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Numbers 6:24-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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