Take up His Cross - Luke 9:23

I'm memorizing the following verse and I decided to look it up in a commentary. The Christian life is impossibly simple: Christ wants every bit of you to follow Him every single moment of every day.

Luke 9:23 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Leon Morris
The follower of Jesus must deny himself (not just his sins, himself; he cannot be self-centred). There is nothing self-indulgent about being a Christian. The disciples had probably seen a man take up his cross and they knew what it meant. When a man from on of their villages took up a cross and went off with a little band of Roman soldiers, he was on a one-way journey. He would not be back. Taking up the cross meant the utmost in self-denial. This is Luke's first use of the word cross and it comes with striking effect. Christ's follower had died to a whole way of life (cf. 14:27). Luke tells us that this is not something that can be finished and got out of the way: it must be done daily (cf. 1 Cor. 15:31). So, says Jesus, will he follow me. (p. 188-189), Luke (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (IVP Numbered))