Stephen, Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me
During the earthly portion of his ministry, Jesus recruited people to be disciples by telling them to take up their cross and follow him. We’ve diluted the idea of “cross bearing” into a metaphor for simply enduring difficulties. However, Jesus’ audience understood that taking up their cross meant accepting martyrdom. Stephen was the first disciple to truly experience this, but he certainly wasn’t the last. Realigning our lives with the mission of Jesus means surrendering ourselves completely to him, even to the point of death. Once we consider ourselves crucified with Christ, the rest should come pretty easy. (Scripture: Acts 7:54-60)