‘Let Him Deny Himself’

‘Let Him Deny Himself’

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

Luke 9:23

This is the logical follow-on of our consideration of yesterday. If we desire to ‘come after’ Christ, He says that we must ‘deny ourself.’ If we take this at face value, and do not consider anything else that Christ said, we will soon find ourselves despairing. This is a greater sacrifice than we can accomplish. Christ said much more which bears upon this command that we must ‘deny ourself.’ He also said, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you.’ Beyond that, He promised of His people, ‘they shall never perish.’ These assurances, plus more which we could set forth, show us that Christ does not give the command without also imparting to us His Presence and His Strength. This utterly changes our view of the command. Besides what we have already considered, there is the fact that Christ Himself has given us the Greatest Example of what it means to deny oneself. No one else in all the history of humanity has lived in a more self-denying manner than Christ. If we would see how it is done, we must look to Him. He does not call us to do anything which He is unwilling to do Himself. This throws the concept of ‘self-denial’ into a whole new light. Today, let us approach our self-denial, ‘looking unto Jesus,’ Who will show us the way, and lead us in it.

Our most Holy and Faithful Christ,
we rejoice that You do all things well.
We praise You, that as You have lived a life of self-denial,
so You will show us, how to deny ourselves, that we may follow You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning