Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^(A)deny himself and ^(B)take up his cross and follow me.

⁸ But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for ^(A)members of his household, he has ^(B)denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

^13 (A)Be watchful, ^(B)stand firm in the faith, ^(C)act like men, ^(D)be strong.

³ Do nothing from ^(A)selfish ambition or ^(B)conceit, but in ^(C)humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you ^(D)look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ^5 (E)Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,^{[a] 6 (F)}who, though he was in ^(G)the form of God, did not count equality with God ^(H)a thing to be grasped,^{[b] 7} but ^(I)emptied himself, by taking the form of a ^(J)servant,^{[c] (K)}being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by ^(L)becoming obedient to the point of death, ^(M)even death on a cross. ^9 (N)Therefore ^(O)God has ^(P)highly exalted him and bestowed on him ^(Q)the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus ^(R)every knee should bow, ^(S)in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and ^(T)every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is ^(U)Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

^25 (A)Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and ^(B)gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by ^(C)the washing of water ^(D)with the word, ²⁷ so ^(E)that he might present the church to himself in splendor, ^(F)without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a] 28} In the same way ^(G)husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because ^(H)we are members of his body. ^31 (I)“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^(J)the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, ^(K)let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ^(L)respects her husband.