THE LAW OF SELF DENIAL
Luke 9:21-26
As it implies, Self-Denial is denying yourself of some pleasure for the sake of a greater good that is not centred around you. It is sacrificing your self-interest. It involves giving up what gives us pleasure or might contribute to our comfort for the purpose of doing a greater good for others. The concept of self-denial is all about a life yielded to Jesus, where your priorities are God’s priorities. It takes the focus away from you.
The mind controls the body. To master self-denial, it has to start with your mind. It takes a proper understanding to know that in as much as your body will want to indulge in some of these things, you have to take deliberate steps to deny the body of these excesses. To be able to do this you’ll have to be able to deny the body of things that are not necessarily bad. You have to be able to train your mind to not over feed on a delicious meal even though your taste buds still craves for the delicacy. You have to be able to train your mind to deny the body a few hours sleep to get things done or to study.
When you realize the nature of your assignment, you will get a full grip of the nature of training you need to put yourself through, then you will realize that “others may, but I can’t”. You can’t join them. The sort of training a sprinter undergoes after all isn’t the same training a marathon runner undergoes. The vision determines the pruning. To self deny is to postpone your gratification and save yourself also from any embarrassment.
You will note that self-denial is not a once in a lifetime thing. It is a daily action. Our intention should never be to do anything by ourselves or for ourselves but rather do everything by Him and for Him. That is the life we have chosen as Christians. Christianity is more than just belief. It is a life of discipline; a life of self-denial is living for the Lord. The human nature is naturally selfish. But as a child of God, you must deny self and live for the Lord. This is what would make a man abandon human pleasure to do things for the Lord.
When you choose to wait on the Lord in fasting and prayer, you are denying your body the pleasure of food so you can attain deeper intimacy with God. “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). If your life is weaved around the concept of me, myself and I, your Christianity is in doubt. The Christian life is a life devoted to living for the Lord. You are committed to doing what Jesus would do in every situation you find yourself. It should affect your family life, career, profession and even in doing the work of the Lord. What comes to your mind first is pleasing the Lord.
MEDITATION: You must make sacrifice today for a better tomorrow. Your Life vision determines your pruning process. Be willing to pay the price.
