Verse 24 says
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”
Jesus is telling his disciples if you want to follow him you must give up your own way take up your cross and follow him. Now what does that mean. It meant that they would have to give up the lives they lived and they ways they lived if they ate with their left hand they needed to stop and do it the way Christ did they needed to give up everything from the way they walked to their family’s and dreams to sacrifice everything they had and their selves to follow Christ with no regrets and to take up their cross and to take up their cross now in the first century, the cross meant one thing and one thing only: death by crucifixion. To carry a cross was to face the most painful and humiliating means of death human beings could develop. So they must be willing to through pain humility and suffering in order to follow Christ .
Verse 25 says
“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
If you hang on to your life in the world you begin to desire worldly things and become to love the world and when you love the world and the life you made in it you loose sight of the blessings God has gave you
When you desire worldly items you have no interest in the holy items that God can bless you with so you will loose your life to the world . But if you give you your worldly life and devote your self to God and Holy things he can offer than you will find that you have no need or desire for worldly things and your life will be saved from the world .
Verse 26 says
“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
When you desire worldly things you become of the world and when you become of the world it’s more likely you will loose your soul to the worldly things the devil wants us to desire
Let’s say you have everything you could ever want in the world . You have money, cars, jewelry, mansions, and more . You will loose sight of God and the heavenly things he can offer you because you only desire worldly temporary things this is how you lose your soul to the world . Now if you have everything you ever wanted but you loose your relationship with God is it worth it? You may have everything you want but do you have the 1 thing you really need?
Verse 27 says
“For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.”
Jesus is talking about the 2nd coming which is talked about in revelation.
Then he will come and judge people according to their deeds when he says this it’s a big thing because we can say and confess with our mouths every day that we are Christians and we believe in God and that Jesus died for us, but if we have no good deeds to show it’s just empty air.
An example of a good deed is when you give whole heartedly to someone in need and expect nothing in return, or when you do what is right by God and not sin and expect no blessings in return. These are good deeds. Now if you do what is wrong in the eyes of God but confess with your mouth that you believe Jesus is our one and only savior , this is not a good deed its an empty word. Jesus says in Matthew Chapter 15 Verse 8 ” These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
Jesus is telling us right here that is you confess you believe in him it wont get you anywhere if your heart is far from him and you practice bad deeds.