You Must Take Up Your Cross

The Savior taught this about what it means to take up our cross: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. And now for a man to take up his cross, is to deny himself all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and keep my commandments. Break not my commandments for to save your lives; for whosoever will save his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come…. Therefore, forsake the world, and save your souls; for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (JST Matthew 16:25-29) The essence of taking up our cross is to forsake the world, to make a sacrifice by refusing the things of the world so that we can follow Him and keep His commandments. For Him taking up the cross meant giving up His very life; our sacrifice may not be that great but we still must give up a life after the manner of the world so we can have a life with God in the world to come. The key phrase associated with taking up our cross seems to be to deny ourselves of the worldly things we might want: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). “For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell” (3 Nephi 12:30). This is exactly what the rich young ruler learned when Jesus said to him: “Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21). He was to deny himself by giving up his worldly possessions. Each of us must similarly make sacrifices of the things of the world in order to take up our cross and follow Him.

                Given that, it is interesting to me how the Lord spoke of taking up the cross to Joseph Knight. He said this: “You must take up your cross, in the which you must pray vocally before the world as well as in secret, and in your family, and among your friends, and in all places” (Doctrine and Covenants 23:6). For him to take up his cross was equivalent to praying in public and private, with friends and family, and in all places. How does this relate to the idea of denying one’s self the things of the world in order to take up the cross? Perhaps this act of praying publicly—in front of friends and family and other public places—was a means of rejecting the normal order of things in the world and putting the things of God first. It may have even been difficult for Joseph to follow this command because, just like carrying the cross literally before the world, it took humility to be willing to pray before the world which might mock spiritual things. In addition to this, praying in general is surely a powerful way for us to rid ourselves of the desire for the things of the world. As we are tempted to seek after the world’s possessions and positions and prominence, surely there is no better antidote than to sincerely pray and seek to align ourselves with the things of God. We must do as the Savior taught us in order to overcome our attachment to the world: “Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:5). To take up our cross we must, like the Savior did, “overcome the world” and prayer is surely a key part for us to conquer the world and our desires for it (John 16:33).

Ultimately Joseph Knight did take up his cross and overcome the world as he gave up his life in New York to go to Kirtland, Missouri, Nauvoo, and finally towards the Salt Lake Valley where he passed away on the trail at Mount Pisgah, Iowa. The Prophet Joseph gave this powerful tribute to Joseph Knight: “[He] was among the number of the first to administer to my necessities. … For fifteen years he has been faithful and true, and even-handed and exemplary, and virtuous and kind, never deviating from the right hand or to the left. Behold, he is a righteous man, may God Almighty lengthen out the old man’s days; and may his trembling, tortured, and broken body be renewed, … and it shall be said of him, by the sons of Zion, while there is one of them remaining, that this man was a faithful man in Israel.” He successfully took up his cross in the cause of the Restoration and his life is a powerful example for us all.