{"id":384,"date":"2011-04-20T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lettinggo\/?p=384"},"modified":"2011-04-16T17:49:43","modified_gmt":"2011-04-16T21:49:43","slug":"take-up-your-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/04\/take-up-your-cross.html","title":{"rendered":"Take Up Your Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Question:<\/strong> What did Christ mean when he said we must take up our cross and follow him? <\/p>\n<p><strong>Answer: <\/strong>For the seeker of Life, the conversion from our embittered self &#8212; with its hardened heart &#8212; into a new man or woman requires a conscious compliance; it takes submission of self involving a willingness to endure our present nature as it ceases to be one form, even before it is transformed into another, higher one. Going through this conscious conversion is the &#8220;crucifixion,&#8221; for the sweetness of God&#8217;s own life comes only after the curing of our own. It follows the passing of that life we are in into a Life we cannot know in our present state. Here is the tearing of the fibers of our very self &#8212; not a maturing, but a gradual replacement &#8212; becoming new in the light of God&#8217;s birth in us even as we feel ourselves dying to all that we have ever been or hope to be. Thus knowing that our will cannot be transformed, but only surrendered, does nothing to make the task of going through our conversion less painful, and yet it does make this life of waiting &#8212; and ripening on the vine &#8212; endurable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: What did Christ mean when he said we must take up our cross and follow him? Answer: For the seeker of Life, the conversion from our embittered self &#8212; with its hardened heart &#8212; into a new man or woman requires a conscious compliance; it takes submission of self involving a willingness to endure&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,255,39],"tags":[530,531,533,532],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-scripture","category-faithspirituality","category-meaning-of-life-lifes-purpose","tag-christ","tag-crucifixion","tag-rebirth","tag-resurrection"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Take Up Your Cross - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/04\/take-up-your-cross.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take Up Your Cross - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: What did Christ mean when he said we must take up our cross and follow him? Answer: For the seeker of Life, the conversion from our embittered self &#8212; with its hardened heart &#8212; into a new man or woman requires a conscious compliance; it takes submission of self involving a willingness to endure&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/04\/take-up-your-cross.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-20T11:00:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-04-16T21:49:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@guy_finley\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Take Up Your Cross - Letting Go with Guy Finley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/04\/take-up-your-cross.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Take Up Your Cross - Letting Go with Guy Finley","og_description":"Question: What did Christ mean when he said we must take up our cross and follow him? 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. The Foundation's popular Key Lesson e-mails featuring inspirational quotes by Guy are read each week by a hundred thousand subscribers in 142 countries. Guy speaks four times each week on inner-life principles at Life of Learning Foundation's home in Merlin, Oregon. These meetings are ongoing and open to the public. 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