What does it mean to deny self?
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If, however, it is to be life here and I am to go on living, this will mean useful and productive service for me; so I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed between the two. I have the desire to leave and be with Christ, for that is far, far better; 24 yet to remain in my body is more necessary and essential for your sake. 25 Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that your rejoicing for me may overflow in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. – Philippians 1:21-26
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. – Matthew 16:24
Photo by Анна Рыжкова on Pexels.com
To actually follow Christ is evidenced by a person who has surrendered to Christ. Denying self becomes an attitude that grows more deeply after a capitulation of self-pride occurs.
However, unlike a robot, our coding takes time to change, but there is a clear line that is drawn before and after one comes to Christ and begins to live with the reality that Christ is Lord and Master.
A follower of Christ, much like any practicing disciple, slowly becomes more like the master through a determined effort to learn and to transform. In the case of the Christian walk, the Holy Spirit, indwellt in a believer, is responsible for the regeneration of the soul.
Why deny one’s significance? It’s matter of timing and influence of what one believes is significant. An unregenerate sinner has nothing redeemable towards salvation from God who is holy. However, that’s different compared to the significance of one’s life that is supplied by God’s grace and the fulfillment of God’s will for a believer’s life.
Humility and openness God can work with. When we allow God to work through us, we perform a role in God’s plans and in God’s kingdom on earth.
The Model of the Ancient Israelites – Becoming a people apart
As a Christian, the result of denying one’s own significance is to glorify God. It’s doesn’t mean to become un-purposed or a door mat. An example from the Old Testament is God’s purposes for the nation of Israel when they were freed from Egyptian slavery.
The Hebrew people in Egypt had maintained cultural traditions, but they had been strongly influenced by the pagan Egyptian culture and worship. Their propensity to worship idols, which they thought was effective and significant, almost got them destroyed several times in their history, for their lack of faith which lead to disobedience and dishonoring of God. They became increasingly unfaithful to their vows to God. Ultimately, centuries later, it resulted in a pair of national judgments where God used the Assyrians and the Babylonians to conquer Israel and take the people captive.
Although God judged the Israelites, God kept His promises and kept a remnant of survivors to honor His promises to Abraham and to humankind, even using pagan Kings to aid in the process of repatriation. In God’s time, He returned His people with renewed faith to the Promised Land.
As God’s chosen people, God had communicated through Moses the Law while they journeyed through the desert at Mt Sinai. Not only was God establishing knowledge of His moral law, primarily the Ten Commandments, but he was preparing the Israelites to be substantially different in all manners of life, culture, and worship to set them apart form the pagan child-sacrificing kingdoms they were going to conquer.
Changing Spiritually – A process of emptying self
By denying oneself, like the Israelites who were trained to give up evil influences of the Egyptians and their own innate sinfulness while adopting the ways dictated by God, one will develop obedience to God as well as becoming a person who stands apart, though not detached or aloof from, the world and the unsaved. This does not mean following cultural norms for ancient Israel but it does mean to be changed spiritually by the Grace of God and in response to living a life of gratitude.
Like the Israelites, many of our old habits and attitudes can take time to overcome. The direction of a Christians, which includes an ongoing process denying self, is intended to be in the direction that Jesus Christ modeled.
A difference in comparing the Age of the Church to the era of the Israelites entering Canaan (The Promised Land), the focus of believers is not to deliver judgment, but to draw people to Christ through the Gospel so that others can be saved from God’s ultimate judgment.
****
As a side note: Christianity has been used unrighteously by the institutionalized church, by nations, and false teachers, but if you study the teachings of Jesus Christ directly from the Gospels, you can read for yourself the kindness, healing, mercy and compassion Jesus showed sinners, and some responded with sorrow for their sins and were ready and able to repent and to faithfully receive Him as Lord. At the same time, He warned more about hell than all the writers of the Bible combined and He reserved his harshest expressions of damnation to the self-righteous religious rulers.
For a one minute explanation of the Gospel, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCP9UcC7BzE
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
P.S. Typos and all, I do not use AI.