Denying yourself

If any man would come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

This teaching of Jesus flies full in the face of the prevalent attitude today of entitlement. This says that I am entitled to an education, job, house, family, nice things – in fact anything and my input into it is minimal. Everything needs to come to me just because I am entitled to it. The root of this is in humanism which says that man is of prime importance and God is irrelevant.

This of course is completely the opposite of Jesus’ teaching whereby man finds his satisfaction and fulfilment in his relationship with God, his Creator. In order for this to be fully realised man needs to deny himself and follow Jesus. This sounds like one of the hardest teachings of Jesus and for most of us we read this and think, ‘too hard’ and sort of ignore it. The thought of taking up our cross is so far off our radar that we cannot contemplate it.  The demands of our flesh, even when we are trying our hardest, cry out to fed, nurtured, entertained, indulged and pampered.

Jesus though knew this statement would sound impossible to us but that doesn’t mean it is impossible for God. Whenever we are faced with challenges, especially overwhelming challenges, it is time to fall into the arms of grace, acknowledge our weakness and ask our loving Father for his help to attain the unattainable.  

As with all the ‘hard’ teachings of Jesus such as forgiving your enemies, fasting, being prefect as your heavenly Father is perfect or denying yourself it is a process. God wants us to trust him with and in the process not just give up. Too often Christians give up when things get hard because that is what our flesh wants. Jesus wants us not to give up but to give in, to his will and his Holy Spirit’s grace and help.

Denying yourself is not a natural trait for man but an essential discipline for those who are looking for the fullness of God working in their lives. As self is denied, the spirit flourishes. Paul and Peter talk about not indulging, gratifying or sowing to the sinful nature which leads to destruction but to sow to the spirit which reaps life. Jesus wants us to live and to live to the fullness of his purpose for our life. We are not being asked to deny our self by a hard taskmaster bent on spoiling our fun but from a loving God who wants the best for his beloved children. Freedom from the demands of our selfish selves leads to great liberty to live in the grace and fullness of all that God has for us.