Take Off the Necklace, Pick Up the Cross | Mark 8:34-38

The Daily Devotional by Vince Miller

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day.

Today's shout-out goes to Michael Money from Pasco, WA. Your partnership with us through Project 23 is helping people lay down the symbols and pick up a true sacrifice. This one's is for you.

Our text today is Mark 8:34-38:

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. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." — Mark 8:34-38

We love the look of a cross—but often forget the weight of it.

We wear it around our neck. We ink it on our skin. It's carved into churches, printed on clothes, and etched into memorials. But the cross was never meant to be a fashion statement. It was a tool of execution. A symbol of self-denial. A calling to suffer—not just to be seen.

Too often, we wear the symbol but resist the sacrifice.

Jesus makes a bold offer and sets an even bolder cost: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

This is not a call to comfort. It's a call to surrender. He's not inviting us to admiration—but to imitation. He's saying: If you want to follow me, you can't bring anything else with you, including yourself.

We try. We want Jesus and our fame, fortune, and future. Jesus and our comfort, control, and career.

But Jesus says you can't have both.

If you try to save even one of these things, you'll lose the one thing you need. But if you lose them all—for him—you'll find everything and more. That's the paradox of faith. The path to life is through death. The only way to gain is to give. To go forward, you have to lay something down.

So ask yourself: what are you clinging to? Is it your reputation? Your comfort? Your status? Because you can wear a cross and still refuse to carry one.

Jesus ain't looking for admirers—he's calling devoted disciples.

The world may applaud your jewelry, your tattoos, and your "faith aesthetic,"—but Jesus is looking deeper. Are you denying yourself daily? Are you carrying a cross—or just wearing one?

You can't cling to the world and carry the cross.

Pick one. Follow one. Live all in for him who lived all in for you.

#YouCantHaveBoth, #CarryTheCross, #TrueDiscipleship

ASK THIS:

1. Are you wearing faith or living it?
2. What worldly thing are you most afraid to surrender?
3. Are you carrying a cross—or admiring it from a distance?
4. Where is Jesus asking you to deny yourself today?

DO THIS:

Look at one symbol of your faith today—a cross on your wall, shirt, or jewelry—and ask: Am I really living this out?

PRAY THIS:

Jesus, I don’t want to just wear a cross—I want to carry mine daily. Give me strength to surrender and follow you with my whole life. Amen.

PLAY THIS:

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.