The Crosswalk Devotional: A Daily Devotional Chris... - What Does Crucifying the Flesh Really Mean?

What does it really mean to crucify the flesh and follow Jesus daily? Romans 8:13 reminds believers that true spiritual life comes through surrendering sinful desires and living by the power of the Holy Spirit. In this devotional, Hannah Benson explores the biblical meaning of “taking up your cross,” showing how God leads us into deeper peace, freedom, and abundant life through daily surrender.

Highlights

• Romans 8:13 teaches that living by the Spirit requires putting sinful desires to death.
• Jesus modeled surrender in Gethsemane by choosing the Father’s will over His own.
• Carrying your cross means daily surrendering control, pride, and self-centered desires.
• Honest prayer and dependence on God are essential in seasons of struggle.
• Abundant life is found in God’s presence, not in comfortable circumstances.
• God often asks us to release things we tightly cling to so He can fill us with peace.
• The Holy Spirit gives believers strength to walk in obedience and freedom.

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Full Transcript Below:

What Does Crucifying the Flesh Really Mean?

By Hannah Benson

Bible Reading:
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13 ESV).

What a way to start a devotional. Aren’t devotionals supposed to be uplifting and encouraging?

Yes.

Aren’t they also supposed to be challenging?

Yes.

What does this verse mean?

Jesus tells us in the Gospels to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23), but what does that actually mean? Most of us don’t have a physical cross we’re called to bear.

Jesus’s cross was by no means easy for Him to carry, even though He is the Son of God.

He had to humble Himself, even to the point of death. Death by a cross was not only humiliating but the most excruciating death imaginable in those days. Matthew 26:39 (ESV) says: “And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’”

Yes, Jesus wanted to save humanity and was willing to endure death on a cross if it was the only way. But Gethsemane shows us that as a man, if there had been any other way to accomplish the mission without the ag