“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.'” Luke 9:23-24
Once, as I was thinking about this passage, something hit me. When Jesus said that those who wish to come after Him must deny themselves, He probably meant, very simply, that those who follow Him must practice self-denial. In fact, the more I think about it, and the more I reflect on the whole of Scripture, it seems to me that it is impossible to follow Jesus Christ and have a lifestyle or life pattern that is self-indulgent. The two don’t mix.
Yet, that is precisely the “gospel” that is preached in so many churches across our nation – giving people a false understanding of what it means to truly follow Christ. This is so very dangerous.
Jesus exhorts us to count the cost before signing up to be His disciples. He doesn’t sugarcoat His expectations. Why should we? The truth of the matter is that, in saying “yes” to Jesus, we are saying “no” to ourselves. Our flesh is going to cry out for many things that are not in keeping with the Spirit of God. Scripture tells us that these two are at war with one another – in an effort to prevent us from doing what we want to do (obey Christ). Denying ourselves is a fundamental component of this process. We must cultivate our ability to say “no.”
We live in a culture that makes it easy (and justifiable) to give ourselves whatever we desire. Want another piece of cake? No problem. Binging on your favorite television show? Go ahead and watch another episode. What’s one more? Are those shoes on sale? One more pair won’t hurt.
None of these are wrong in and of themselves. Please hear me when I say that. But here is my concern. If we always say yes to ourselves in these seemingly trivial matters, we establish a mindset where saying yes to ourselves is the norm, and saying no to ourselves seems out of place and awkward. This does not set us up for living out this passage in Luke. In fact, it makes it excruciatingly difficult. Please don’t ask me how I know this.
Self-denial is part of the Christian life. Sometimes, the answer just needs to be, “no.”
