Deny Yourself

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Mark 8:34 

Following Jesus sounds appealing until you read the fine print.  

There is no casual version of discipleship.  

Jesus does not recruit fans; He calls followers, and followers carry crosses. 

To deny yourself means to shift the center of your life away from what you want and toward what God wants.  

That is harder than it sounds.  

We are naturally wired for self-preservation, self-promotion, and self-comfort.  

Marriage teaches us to prioritize someone else.  

Parenting teaches us to love someone more than ourselves.  

But Christianity calls us to do something even more radical: to pursue God's will above our own, daily, consistently, and without negotiation. 

Here is the honest question Jesus is asking:  

If He does not have your tongue, your wallet, or your schedule, does He really have your heart?  

Those things are not the price of salvation, but they tend to be a clear sign of it. 

Pick one area of your life where you are still running things your way.  

Surrender it to God today, in prayer, out loud.

Prayer:

Father, I confess that I am more self-centered than I want to admit. Help me to deny myself today, not out of obligation, but out of love for You. Shift my focus from what I want to what You want. In Jesus' name, Amen.