Suffering and Shame - losing it all for your Name

Mark 8:34-5 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."

Earlier today I was reading about "costly grace" something (several somethings) stuck out to me:
*What has cost God much cannot be cheap for us

* Grace is costly because it compels us to submit to the yoke of Christ &
follow him- it is grace because his yoke is easy & burden light.

*Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross.

I wonder if I cheapen God's grace. Do I just accept God's saving grace and not truly come after Him? How am I denying myself; at all? I mean, I don't buy everything I want, I don't eat ice-cream for every meal, I don't give in to my every desire... Jesus says that we must take up our cross and follow Him. How is that even done? What is our cross? A symbol of suffering, shame, ridicule, rejection, death. Carrying my cross? I guess that means making the deliberate choice to deny my own pleasures and brazenly cling to the cross, though it may bring shame.

Right now I am listening to a song called "Lose it All" by Rush of Fools, here are some lyrics;

Oh oh oh oh, I wanna to lose it all for You
Oh, oh, oh, if it’s the last thing that I do
Oh, oh, oh, the only thing that really matters now
I wanna lose it all for You

It’d be the greatest day
If all the accolades
Were simply thrown away
With nothing left to say
Okay, all right, there is more that I am living for
When I’m Yours

The smartest thing is to give up everything
Only the foolish ones will hold on, hold on
But the fight in me wants to cling to everything
Save the foolish one, I hold on, I hold on


I love that song. All I really know is that, no matter what it takes, I gave my life to God,so I must be willing to lose it all for Him. It should be more than a afterthought as I ask myself if I AM willing to lose my life for the gospel. The gospel is good news, but not always news everyone wants to hear. Am I willing to face the ridicule and rejection of the cross?