Day 4 – Dying to self

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23 (KJV)

What does it mean to deny one’s self? Is this just a once-off for us who know God?

According to Luke 9 verse 23, we all need to take up our cross daily – meaning that it includes all of us and it’s a way of living – every day.

The first verb is “deny,” and what Jesus calls us to deny is our selves, meaning especially our sinful selves, with all the selfish desires of our fallen nature. The Greek verb “to deny” (arneomai) is a strong word of negation that means forgetting oneself entirely and rejecting any thought of doing what will please ourselves rather than God. (Dave Jenkins – Christianity.com)

“Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMPC)

Accepting Jesus, the love of God, kills our old, sinful, selfish ways, and we become new, new with the revelation of unconditional love and dying to our own ways and will.

Only when we die in self can we start doing what God expects, since it will be through His power and not our own anymore.

For today, evaluate ‘self”’ against what God requires. How are you to take up your cross daily?

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for being so self-centered in our lives sometimes. We accept the truth that when we accept Jesus, we accept a new way of loving and being loved. Help us today to really deny our own ways in order to love as You expect us to. Amen.

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