Second, “Carrying the cross every day”
In Jesus’ time, “carrying the cross daily” was not merely a religious symbol, but a very real image of someone walking toward death. The life of a believer is not a life free from struggle, but a life of constant battle against sin. As John Owen emphasized in his work *Of the Mortification of Sin*, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you,” reminding us that there is no neutral ground in the spiritual life. We kill sin, or sin will kill us. Theologians kn