Take up thy cross

Rich man told by Christ to take up cross and follow Him but the man returned to his home

"Material favors sometimes deprive us of spiritual favors and material rest of spiritual rest. A rich man said to Christ, "I would fain be thy disciple." "Go and put into practice the ten commandments," replied the Christ." "But I know them by heart and have always practiced them." "Then sell what thou hast and take up thy cross and follow me." The man returned to his home. But the rich who are attracted through their hearts have the spark and are like unto brilliant torches."This content belongs to Pilgrim's notes, notes known not to have an original language text or transcript and which "may be interesting but not authoritative" to Bahá'ís

('Abdu'l-Bahá, 'Abdu'l-Bahá on Divine Philosophy, p. 135)

Being a Bahá'í is not mere intellectual assent or even conduct but wholehearted devotion as Christ called for of a rich man

Intellectual assent to a creed does not make a man a Bahá'í, nor does outward rectitude of conduct. Bahá'u'lláh requires of His followers wholehearted and complete devotion. God alone has the right to make such a demand, but Bahá'u'lláh speaks as the Manifestation of God, and the Revealer of His Will. Previous Manifestations have been equally clear on this point. Christ said: "If any man come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." In different words, all the Divine Manifestations have made this same demand from Their followers, and the history of religion shows clearly that as long as the demand has been frankly recognized and accepted, religion has flourished, despite all earthly opposition, despite affliction, persecution and martyrdom of the believers. On the other hand, whenever compromise has crept in, and "respectability" has taken the place of complete consecration, then religion has decayed. It has become fashionable, but it has lost its power to save and transform, its power to work miracles. True religion has never yet been fashionable. God grant that one day it may become so; but it is still true, as in the days of Christ, that "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." The gateway of spiritual birth, like the gateway of natural birth, admits men only one by one, and without encumbrances. If, in the future, more people succeed in entering that way than in the past, it will not be because of any widening of the gate, but because of a greater disposition on the part of men to make the "great surrender" which God demands; because long and bitter experience has at last brought them to see the folly of choosing their own way instead of God's way.This content is from Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era; Shoghi Effendi advised believers to "read and read over again" this work.

(J. E. Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, pp. 72-73)

Christ's call to take up the cross indicates that one can only be a real follower of Christ if one is free of everything

"As Christ said to a rich man: 'Go, and give all you have, and take up your cross and come and be My follower.'[23] This saying of Christ's indicates that unless one is free from everything, one cannot be a real follower of Christ."This content belongs to Pilgrim's notes, notes known not to have an original language text or transcript and which "may be interesting but not authoritative" to Bahá'ís

(Juliet Thompson, Diary of Juliet Thompson, Chapter 2)

See also

• The price of following the Manifestation of God