To take up your cross is one of the conditions that Jesus himself declared necessary in order to follow Him.This is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew in Chapter 16.Beginning with verse 24, we can read: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me".
A Christian Disciple as we know, simply defined, is one who follows, observes and applies the discipline and doctrines of Jesus Christ…-Therefore, a Disciple of Christ patterns his/her life after Christ’s.
Too many believers get discouraged, stumble and quit the faith during times of trials and tribulations. Most of the time the failure to keep up with our Christian beliefs is rooted in our misguided motivations. Our motivations can be defined as being the totality of motives (reasons and causes) for our behavior and actions.