Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 10:38

"And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me." — Matthew 10:38 (ASV)

Here our Lord, for the second time in this Gospel, brings in His death. At first He spoke of being taken from them, but now of the cross. There is a cross for each one which a person may regard as “his cross.” It may be that the cross will not take us up, but we must take it up, by being willing to endure anything or everything for Christ’s sake. We are not to drag the cross after us, but to take it up. “Dragged crosses are heavy; carried crosses grow light.” Bearing the cross, we are to follow Jesus.

To bear a cross without following Christ is a poor affair. A Christian who shuns the cross is no Christian; but a cross-bearer, who does not follow Jesus, equally misses the mark. Is it not remarkable that nothing is so essential to make someone worthy of Christ as bearing the cross in His path? Yet it is assuredly so. Lord, You have laid a cross upon me; do not permit me to shirk it or shrink from it.