"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up His cross and follow Me."
Mt 16:24
Tough words to write. Tough words to say. Tougher words to live by. I don’t know about you, but denying me is the last thing I want to do. When the belly rumbles and says “I’m hungry” I am happy to oblige its filling. When the body is weary and wants rest, I am all to willing to give it its rest. When the spirit wants to have fun, I willingly agree. Self denial is just not on the “Need to Get Done” List.
But, denying self is the first step to true discipleship of Christ. Not an easy task. Anyone who tells you otherwise is deceiving you and themselves and is a fool. Denying self takes an extraordinary act of the will. It is an easy battle some days. Other days, it is a horrible conflict. Just to let you know, Paul struggled with this as well. Read Romans 7:14-25 if you don’t believe me.
To deny me (let’s make it personal for all of us), I must actively, cognitively say “NO!” to myself. The word in the Greek means “to say no, to deny; to refuse, not to be willing, to resist, to reject.” I have to tell myself “NO!” every day. It is not something that we can do one time. I have to deny the desire to hide my faith when someone makes fun of Christ. I have to put down my anger when someone offends me. I have to be patient when I want things done right now. I have to wait on the Lord when I think that I know what is best. The fact of the matter is that I need to be like what John the Baptizer said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” There was a man who was denying self.
I like what Hienrich Schlier said of denying self. “I must not confess myself and my own being, nor cling to myself, but abandon myself in a radical renunciation (emphasis mine) of myself, and not merely of my sins. I must longer seek to establish my life of myself but resolutely accept death and allow myself to be established by Christ in discipleship.” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament; Vol 1:471)
I must die to myself. No, I must put to death my self so that Christ might live in me. I must put to death the self so that the glory that I would gain for whatever I do would go to Whom it truly belongs – God Himself. Each of us must do this. It is required of me. It is required of you. The only question is . . . do you have the courage to be Christ’s disciple and deny yourself? Each day I pray that I will. By God’s Grace I will walk in the dust of the Master so that I become more and more like Him and less and less like me.
God, give me strength to deny my self so that I might gain You.
