Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me…
–Matthew 16:24

This verse is so popular that even unbelievers often quote it, taking it to mean that Jesus was saying suffering awaits us on the path of following Him. And then it also says “deny himself…” — unbelievers don’t remember that part, but among Christians it is mostly interpreted as something we have to do, putting enormous effort into it.

Perhaps those who read my articles wonder why I so often “criticise” what is said in church, or what for many centuries has been considered unshakeable dogma.

Here is my answer: when we believed in Jesus, He made us completely perfect, holy and blameless, and, most wonderful and amazing of all, He gave us His righteousness and His nature, His very essence — as it is written, we have become partakers of the divine nature [2 Pet.1:4], and now as He is, so are we in this world. [1 Jhn.4:17] But throughout our life something happens to us that affects our outward behaviour — the transformation of our mind, of our thinking. Ephesians says: “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” [Eph.4:23-24] What does this mean? It means that the more we come to know Christ in His finished work on the cross, through which we became this new man, the more our mind and thinking are transformed in line with the image of Christ in us; and then we can look at everything around us through His eyes and perceive it through the mind of Christ, which we have thanks to what HE did for us on the cross. That is why I see old things in a new way, and many passages of the Bible, whose understanding was imposed on me by traditional Christian interpretation and dogma, I now see quite differently: in the light of the true gospel, which is the gospel of grace, and in which there is not a shadow of our own works [Rom.11:6] or of condemnation. [Rom.8:1]

So let’s get back to the point: deny yourself and take up your cross… If we look at these verses keeping in mind the essence of the New Covenant and the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice, everything becomes simple and clear.

I’ll begin with denying oneself. No one can do it in his own strength, but what is impossible with men is possible with God. [Mat.19:26] Self-denial happens only when a person comes to understand that he can no longer cope with his life on his own and can get help only from God. And he understands this not just in his head but realises it with his whole heart — when he has already tried everything in his flesh and his own resources have run out. Only then can he — and indeed must he — leave himself behind (deny himself) and trust God completely. As an example from the Bible we can take Zacchaeus, a dishonest tax inspector who, on top of everything else, was the head of the local tax police (to put it in modern terms), robbing his own people (can you imagine what kind of money was going round there?!), and despised by everyone. He, a rich man, had to humble himself quite a lot to climb that tree in front of a crowd of people. I think he no longer cared at all what people thought; he had so lost faith in himself that Jesus had become far more important than his pride and his own ego. And then he didn’t even have to say anything: he not only saw Jesus, but had the great honour and joy of receiving Him in his own house! [Luk.19:2-6] When we are in that state, we receive from God far more than we could even think with our limited human mind! [Jas.4:6; Eph.3:20]

Now let’s think about the cross. When people quote these words of Christ, they usually mean something heavy and huge, something hard to carry, as it was for Jesus before the crucifixion. Hearing this verse in its traditional interpretation, you can’t help imagining yourself in Christ’s place. But when I was meditating on it recently, after God had given me the revelation of grace, He showed me a completely different picture!!! Remember I said how important it is, when reading Scripture, to remember the context and what the New Covenant consists of? Let me remind you once more, as Paul said: “For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” [Phl.3:1] :))) The meaning of the New Covenant is that CHRIST BORE ALL OUR SINS AND THE PUNISHMENT FOR THEM; IT WAS HE WHO TOOK OUR PLACE BOTH ON THE CROSS AND UNDER THE CROSS, so that we would take His place beside the Father [Eph.2:6]. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness [2 Cor.5:21], and all this only so that He could have the joy of fellowship with us [Heb.8:10-12], and only out of love for us! [Rom.5:8] When He spoke about His yoke that we need to take on ourselves, and about the burden, He said this: “For My yoke is EASY and My burden is LIGHT.” [Mat.11:30]

Dear beloved ones! Do you still picture God as One who wants us to carry a heavy cross, bending under its weight, and not to grumble but thank Him for it? Or do you think the cross is the hard trials God sends us to test our faith and humble our flesh? Then you need a change of thinking — that is what the Greek word for “repentance” means — and to look at all this with the understanding that the cross we are to carry is the good news that on the cross Jesus accomplished and finished our salvation, making us a New, holy and righteous creation. And He does not send trials, but allows them, with one single purpose: so that we, realising that we should not trust in our flesh and our own strength, would deny ourselves (our works and our attempts to achieve something in life in our own strength), trust Him completely, take His finished work upon ourselves, and be at rest. And that is exactly how our faith is strengthened — by trusting Him, not by our own efforts and endeavours!
And I tell you that it is precisely because of His great love for us that God allows certain circumstances in our life, to bring us to the state where we finally understand that the works of our flesh will not help us, so that we stop relying on them [Eph.6:10]; instead, let’s rely on the Lord and His power!

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” [1 Pet.1:13] Hallelujah!