Jesus told his disciples to take up the cross and follow him. This command is central to Christian discipleship, but its meaning has been corrupted by generations of religious tradition. Many have supposed that to take up the cross means to accept daily hardships, sickness, poverty, and to endure pain as if it were the suffering of Christ. But the word of God never speaks this way. The cross is not sickness. The cross is discipleship. The cross is the cost of obedience to Christ.
When Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons, and forgave sins, the world did not applaud him. The rulers slandered him. They accused him of blasphemy, of deception, of madness. They called him a threat to religion and to society. This is the suffering of the cross. He did not suffer because he carried sickness in his own body, but because he brought healing to others. His obedience to the Father brought life, and for this reason the world hated him. The cross was the price of his healing ministry.
In the same way, the apostles never gloried in sickness as if it were their badge of discipleship. They bore the stigma of Christ when they healed the lame, raised the dead, and cast out demons. They were imprisoned, beaten, and killed because they continued the ministry of Jesus. They suffered not for being sick, but for proclaiming and demonstrating healing in the name of Jesus. Their cross was the reproach of aligning with the risen Christ, whose power offended the Faithless.
The distortion that now fills the churches is the inversion of this truth. Christians today suffer for being sick or poor, and they call it a cross. They mistake defeat and bondage for obedience. But sickness is the yoke of Satan. It is submission to the oppressor. To be sick is to suffer for the devil, to exhibit his dominion before the world and the church. To remain in that state and to call it discipleship is to glorify Satan. It is to hold up his oppression as if it were the will of God. This is not the cross of Christ, but the counterfeit cross of unbelief.
The world will never condemn you for carrying this counterfeit cross. On the contrary, it will celebrate you. All kinds of people will join in your suffering, because sickness is common ground for them. The atheist, the Muslim, the Buddhist, and the faithless Christian, if there is such a thing, will sympathize with you. They will admire your patience, comfort you with empty words, and exalt your weakness as if it were strength. They will surround you with praise and solidarity, because in your sickness you align with them against Jesus Christ.
The true cross, however, is different. To take up the cross of Christ is to insist on the ministry of healing, to continue what Jesus began, and to expose the unbelief of the world and the church. When you do this, you will not be applauded but condemned. You will be called a heretic, a fanatic, a deceiver. You will be accused of mysticism, of superstition, of being unscientific, of lacking theological sophistication. They will say you are driven by greed or by lust for comfort. This is the reproach of the cross.
Those who reject the healing ministry refuse to take up the cross. They seek the approval of men. They avoid the shame of being mocked for the doctrine of Christ. They prefer the counterfeit cross of sickness, because it carries no stigma. The true stigma belongs to those who follow Christ in power. It is the disgrace of believing what the world mocks and the false church condemns. To be united with Jesus Christ in his healing is to embrace the cross.
Every disciple must count this cost. If you decide to follow Christ, you must determine ahead of time that you will never retreat from this ministry. You must resolve to stand against the cult of unbelief that fills the churches. These anti-healing sects parade themselves as defenders of the faith, but they are enemies of Christ. They denounce his promises and oppose his power. They would rather honor the devil’s yoke than God’s deliverance. They must be exposed and condemned. Those who persist in their rebellion will perish in hell.
To take up the cross means to face their hostility. You must accept that they will slander you. They will call you every name they can invent. They will mock your doctrine and scorn your faith. They will take refuge in the applause of the world, while you carry the reproach of Christ. This is the cross you must bear. It is not sickness, but the rejection you endure for standing with Jesus in his healing work.
When Jesus said, “Take up your cross,” he called men to follow him in the same path of reproach. He never called them to remain in sickness. He never suggested that disease was obedience. He healed all who came to him, and he commissioned his followers to do the same. To suffer for sickness is to follow the devil, but to suffer for healing is to follow Christ. The cross is the price of loyalty to the ministry of Jesus.
The difference could not be clearer. Jesus did not suffer for being sick, but for bringing healing. The apostles did not suffer for being sick, but for declaring that Christ makes men whole. Christians today suffer for being sick because they have abandoned the ministry of Christ. They glorify the devil’s yoke, and the world honors them for it. But those who truly follow Christ will suffer for healing, for preaching what he preached and doing what he did. This is the cross of healing, and this is the mark of true discipleship.