During the summer of 2010, a 25-year old South Carolinian native by the name of Tobiah Steinmetz bought a plane ticket to Los Angeles and trekked back to South Carolina on foot. He made his way back home to South Carolina carrying an 8 foot, 40 pound, pine-wood cross. Every mile of the trip he spent bearing his cross.

Is this what Jesus had in mind when He said bear your cross? Should we all leave our jobs and homes and start walking across the nation with a piece of pine-wood strapped to our backs? The answer is simply NO. I do not condemn this young man or his journey, and possibly the Lord used him during his expedition, but this is not what Jesus had in mind.

Bearing the cross means to be associated and identified with His life and His death. It means to confess Christ openly and publicly. It means enduring affliction and persecution, if necessary, for His name’s sake. It means loving Him selflessly, sacrificially, and supremely. Bearing the cross means dying to yourself, your aspirations, and your worldly pursuits. It means to follow Him, and pledge allegiance to Him alone. It ultimately means to die, not for your sins, He has accomplished that through His cross; but to die to your own life. It is commendable to walk across the nation with a wooden cross, but it brings no honor to Christ unless the one bearing it has died to self.