Deny Self
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Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
What does it mean to deny myself?
The primary thing that springs to mind is the idea of doing without things desired – a picture of a monk leading a strict and harsh life, far from luxury.
Although the concept of doing without is found in the dictionary under “deny”, the first definition under “deny” is “to declare untrue”. Of course the dictionary was referring to denying a statement, but I began to wonder if it might apply to denying oneself.
If I declared myself as being untrue, I would point to someone or something outside myself as the ultimate source of truth – it could not be found in me.
If I declared myself as being untrue, I wouldn’t trust my feelings or my interpretation of the facts.
If I declared myself as being untrue, I would admit that I am not right, that my ways are not right, that I indeed have a sinful nature that desires what is contrary to what God desires.
Is that not what Jesus is asking us to do? We must acknowledge Him as the only true one. God’s ways are always right.
We are called to choose His way rather than our own, to surrender our will to Him and to follow Him where ever He leads.
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Question: What does the idea of “declaring yourself untrue” mean to you and your approach to God?
I see this devotional as true because what he means by untrue to me is that we must see ourselves as such in order to be able to accept God as the only true God. You might agree that we are not always correct in our judgment of things or people but as far as God is concern His judgment of things or people are always correct. We must rely on His interpretation of facts. That is the way I see what this devotional means and if we have a Christian understanding we will accept this
I tend to agree with Duane. Especially the part about not relying on our feelings and interpretations. I believe we must pray about the situations that we are faced with, and our decisions must be in line with the teachings of the Bible, but ultimately we must trust that God is leading us which means trusting our feelings, intuitions, and interpretations. And, of course, I don’t believe many are called to the monastic life. I too feel this devotional missed the mark.
Duane,
According to our records, this devotional was not repeated so we are not sure where you are coming up with your conclusion. We are sorry to hear that you are disappointed with not only a confusion of dates but also the context of this devotional. The author, Suzanne Benner, has been an author with our ministry for many years and we fully embrace her writing as God-focused and Bible-based teaching.
As far as the subject of denying ourselves, your comment is taking the teaching out of context. The teaching is focused not on living as monks in this world and hating our life but rather understanding that Christ alone is perfect and in order to live a life of fulfillment, we must deny our personal desires, dreams and wants and lay them at the foot of the cross. When we give complete and total surrender, only then can God make us whole. God will give us what is best and make our life here on earth a happy and fulfilling one. “…in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-7) describes submitting ourselves (denying ourselves) to Christ and then he is able to direct us to the right things in life. Psalm 37:4 says “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Again, denying of ourselves to live the life Christ wants us to live.
Thank you for your comment and for following our devotionals.
Power to Change
When I became a Christian I did not feel I needed to look “without” as my way to live but I needed to look “within”. Once Christ came to live “within” my values were different. It didn’t make what I had been doing right or wrong but simply being a Christian gave me a choice of the Better Life instead of simply the Good Life – it became Christ Oriented. With that life came the desire to get into His Word and find out “how” HE wanted me to live. The Word is laid out so clearly and we can find what and how to live for each of us simply by reading, studying and living out the Word. The Bible is so current. For instances the only sins ever created are those in the Ten Commandments. There are no new sins – just new ways or mechanics for committing them. The Bible is so up to date!!! The Fruit of the Spirit is really the basis for my everyday living. When I have these nine pieces of the Fruit, God can bless me. It is difficult and hardly ever do I find myself complete in all of them at once. I believe we can dissect too much by delving into other ideas and lifestyles when all we need is the lifestyle of Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. No changing with Him. And actually the Way of the Cross is a very narrow path. In Matthew, I read, “The highway to hell is broad but the gateway to life is narrow and few ever find it”. When I consider the Cross and what my Saviour went through for me I can only bow my head and pray, “Lord, change me.” The only thing I want to deny is everything in my life that does not please Him and by studying the Word it is all laid out exactly how I should live my life. Easy to do?? Absolutely not! “Do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past. Behold I will do something new” (Isa. 40:31) I know I cannot fail with God at the Helm of my life and with Christ in my heart, the Circle is complete. Praise His Name!! I cannot speak for any one else, but I do speak for myself.
To me an untruth is a lie. For example; when we were young and even some in there adult stages of life. We may still on occasions fabricate a story to better oneselves to a position of acceptance within a group or to a person. To me this would be living a lie or untruth. To have stature in this group, even if your poor or rich by speaking untruths is falsely positioning yourself in that company. Jesus wants us to walk away from the fleshly desires and take up our cross and follow Him. Yes indeed we are not called to take His cross, because we could not even handle a corner of it. But to take up our cross, to recognized sin, not too walk in the flesh, to fast and pray and finally to be Christ like in our daily walk. Stumbling is a part of growth, nothing is easy, but Christ sacrifice and we are called one day to give an account for ourselves. Are we happy with just accepting Christ as our savior, or are we willing to step out in faith and really follow Him…… The monk is another story, the apostles had nothing, and John the Baptist wore sackcloths and ate locust and honey. Has anything changed much today. Not really, its the same old story. No one can serve two masters! You know the rest…… Love in Christ have a great day.
First of all, I’m disappointed that you’ve repeated a devotional just a few days after it first appeared.
Second, I didn’t agree with it then and I still don’t. I truly believe tht Jesus wants us to enjoy our time here on earth. There is no justification to deny ourselves to the point that monks do. Even Jesus wore brightly colored, seemless garments – quite extravagant for the time.
Furthermore, to declare oneself as untrue is wrong on several different levels: For starters if you declare yourself untrue or imperfect then you are stating that God created something less than perfect. Next, if we are not to rely on our onwn interpretations, then whose? What makes them true? If we are untrue how do we even make the determination of who to go to for interpretations?
So far I’ve enjoyed the devotionals, but this one really misses the mark. We need to experience joy in our lives and be proud of who we are and the good things around us. We should accept our blessings fully and give thanks for them. No doubt we should deny the sinful nature that is the flesh that Paul rebukes time and again in the epistles, but never deny that we were created perfect in the eyes of God.