Denying yourself... what does it really mean?






 "If any man will come after me, 
let him deny himself..."
 Luke 9:23


I don´t know about you, but I have never been much fond of the scripture above. Denying myself never sounded so appealing to me - until I found out what Jesus REALLY meant by saying this!

I used to think that DENYING MYSELF meant: to ignore, to reject my will, my desires, the bad thoughts... but how many of us know that IGNORING things doesn´t cause us to OVERCOME them? The act of simply denying A FACT doesn´t make it disappear before our eyes - unfortunately! :D 

I used to be the type of a Christian that would do EVERYTHING possible to get closer to God and to show Him -my- love for him. I was really confident in -my actions and attitude- towards Him. And that was the point when I learned what denying myself really meant!... 

The whole time my focus was on ME, MY ATTITUDES, MY DEVOTION, MY CAPACITY to DO things right ... whereas what Jesus meant by saying that I should deny myself was: TO REJECT SELF-SUFFICIENCY; to rely NOT on mt OWN SKILL to solve problems...

In short, DENYING YOURSELF means to ACKNOWLEDGE that the POWER to overcome things we struggle with IS NOT in our hands (no wonder we find ourselves failing to overcome some stuff in our lives time and again).

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ." 2 Cor 1:21

It is God who can cause our walk to be firm and pleasant to him!

"He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor 1:8

The MESSAGE Bible puts it this way: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. " (Luke 9:23 - MSG). It is interesting because rich people will have a driver who will serve them and lead them to wherever they wish... Jesus said he came TO SERVE and not to be SERVED, and most of times we think we must "serve" Him well in order to experience his love and favor. He wants us to let HIM lead us, love us FIRST, and THEN we will LOVE him back, grateful by what we have first received from Him. 

 "We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first." 1 John 4:19 (MSG)


But what is the BENEFIT OF DENYING MYSELF? Well, I position myself to RECEIVE HELP of no one less than GOD! 

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us 
in our weakness." Romans 8:26

It is only when we CANNOT, that we will receive help! Even Jesus experienced this: after being beaten up, scourged, his physical condition was so bad that he wasn´t able to take up his own cross... and guess what? HELP was provided! Someone was asked to carry his cross!

Therefore, denying myself happened to be the BEST thing I could ever imagine! It has given the provision of help! Overcoming inner struggles has taken another dimension in my life - I know I have a sure help. Our wonderful friend, the Holy Spirit, is more than willing to help us - this is his job and He is an expert at it! He began the good work in us and He will complete it! (Phil 1:6)

"But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you [setting you on a firm foundation] and will protect and guard you from the evil one." 
2 Thes 3:3 (AMP)





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