As disciples, we are called to deny ourselves. We, unfortunately, look at that more as a giving up of something rather than changing the focus of our lives. In this second devotion of four in the series, we will look at what it means to deny ourselves.
Nuggets
Denying ourselves is not giving into our sinful natures.
Unfortunately, different followers may believe different things.
We have to be careful to not be stumbling blocks to others yet not enhance God’s laws and commandments like the Pharisees did.
Devotions in the What Does It Mean? series
The Bible gives us a description of the guidelines we are to follow as disciples of Christ. Accomplishing those duties by applying the guidelines to today’s world, however, can at times get a little hairy. Also, people interpret those guidelines differently.
After we have decided to believe in God (come unto Him), we are to follow God wherever He leads us. This may mean, at times, we need to deny ourselves.
Deny Ourselves
"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'" (Mt. 16: 24 ESV)
Denying ourselves is not giving into our sinful natures.
What does it mean to deny ourselves? The world looks at “deny” as a conscious act of refusing something that is seen as true.
When applied to following Jesus, “deny” takes in a different meaning. This verse talks more about disassociating ourselves from our sinful nature. It is also a disassociation from self-interest.
Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfectionmeans we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Perfectionmeans we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
Even after we ask God to be our Lord and Jesus our Redeemer, we will still be in our humanly, sinful bodies. As humans, we will always have the capacity to sin within us, even after we become believers. We will still struggle with urges and cravings that do not reflect the way God wants us to live our lives.
We have to stand firm to not give into our sinful nature. We must make a conscience choice to look, not to ourselves, but to God to give us strength to sustain us during temptations. We must look to him to guide our steps.
It is also denying what we want when God is calling us to something different. We deny ourselves when we move somewhere God is calling us to when we want to stay in our hometown. He may be calling us to something new or doing our current ministry in a different place. He may be wanting us to choose Him over our extended family.
We deny ourselves when God is calling us to switch jobs when we really like our current job and don’t want to leave. When we give up what we are familiar with to do something new, we are giving Him control of our lives.
As humans, we might tell ourselves that we don’t want to give up performing our guilty pleasures, even though God has spelled it out in Scripture that we should. We may believe that, since there is pleasure involved, there should be no guilt associated with it.
But God has given us boundaries within which we, as disciples, are called to live. These boundaries are established by His laws and commandments. We will not always live within those boundaries because, as humans, we are still in these sinful bodies. But we must strive to live the way He wants us to live.
These are just some examples. [You might want to think of something more specific to make it more applicable to you.] We definitely deny our calling the shots and choose to follow God’s guidance.
But What About Different Interpretations?
Unfortunately, different followers may believe different things.
What we are called to deny may mean something different to someone else. (That could be something that trips up some non-believers.) When we look to Scriptures for clarification, they may seem like they are conflicting.
One of these conundrums is alcohol. Some can handle alcohol; some can’t. Some look at it as a beverage; some look at it as an escape.
First Peter 4: 3 says, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do — living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry” (NIV). Early followers were admonished to not follow the lifestyle of those around them. (Hmmm. Not much has changed, has it?)
Some followers today have the Eve Syndrome. When asked what God told her about the apple, she responded, “… ‘We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, “You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die”’” (Gen. 3: 2-3 CSB).
That, technically, is not what God said. We, however, think no-touching will equate to no-sinning.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Some do that with alcohol. The reactions the alcohol causes inside the brain are addictive. In order to not cause those reactions, some say you shouldn’t touch it.
But what does the Bible really say? Or is it okay in moderation?
Ecclesiastes 9: 7 says, “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do” (NIV). The Psalmist said “He [God] makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate — bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts” (Ps. 104: 14-15 NIV).
So, it can be argued that it is not the alcohol, itself, that we are supposed to deny. In fact, we know Jesus did drink wine. Luke 7: 33-34 says, “For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard …'” (CSB).
Since Jesus did not sin, drinking alcohol itself is not the sin. Maybe the sin is the use of alcohol as an escape.
When we turn to alcohol to dull the pain instead of turning to our Heavenly Father, that is what is wrong. Maybe the sin is when the love of alcohol takes us away from our friends and family. We can definitely sin when the alcohol makes us do something that is clearly a sin, like steal or lie.
Bottom Line
We have to be careful to not be stumbling blocks to others yet not enhance God’s laws and commandments like the Pharisees did.
I think the bottom line is different for different people. There are some things some may consider a sin. Others may not see it that way. We have talked before that we need to know what the Scriptures say so that we can defend what we believe.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
God is also indifferent on whether some things are sin or not. He doesn’t flat out tell us if they are or aren’t.
That is because God doesn’t give us a checklist to follow. He would rather we change our character to be like His than make it a works-based salvation.
We need to prayerfully seek God’s guidance as to what is best for us. We have to seek how He is calling us to live. We can’t judge others if they do — or if they don’t.
Making the Connections
We’ve talked before that our goal is not to rationalize sin so it fits our way of thinking. We have to make sure we avoid sin — or confess the sins we commit.
We do not get to judge if it is a sin or not. That is God’s call.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
How Do We Apply This?
God has a plan for each of our lives. He will talk to us individually as to what His expectations for each of us are. He may ask us to give up what we consider really nice things.
To read a devotion in the Forsaking All for Jesus series, click the button below.
What is most important is that we respond to what He is telling us and let Him have control. We have to do the hard things He is asking us to do.
God knows that is hard for us. Our loving Father allows us to come to Him and confess when we slip outside of those boundaries. He loves us and will give us forgiveness when we ask. We need to show Him that we want to give Him control of our lives by doing what is asked of us.
Gracious Heavenly Father. You love us so much. You have plans for our lives that will prosper us (Jer. 29: 11). You come to us individually to work on each of us to grow us to what You would have us be. Thank You for taking a personal interest in us. Thank You for showing us how we will be happier doing Your Will. Amen.
What do you think?
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