Denying the Self – by The Stebners
Luke 9:23: Then he said to them all “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (NLT)
This statement of Jesus does not appear to be optional for those who desire to trust the Lord who proclaims Himself to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Our family encountered Luke 9:23 via conversation, prayer, study and contemplation. Here’s what we each came up with:
Paul – Denying self might look like submitting your plans and desires to God or turning your life over to Jesus as your mentor. What is our cross? I believe that Jesus’ cross was the call of obedience in his life. So for each of us who desire the same obedience, our cross is doing what God has called us to each day. Jesus had to face the cross: mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Are we able to face what God is calling us to do with our entire self? Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” It’s amazing to think that in the obedience of denying self and picking up our cross we will encounter ease and a light life.
Harli – Denying yourself: as in denying you and going to God, changing yourself. At school, I had a couple of friends that used swear words and would criticize people for who they are. They damaged other kids’ minds with negative comments that didn’t need to be there. I realized I was introducing myself to bad things by being around them. I prayed to God about these friends and encouraged them. Later on, I saw them change into people who treat others respectfully and kindly. I saw these friends deny their old ways and put on God’s cross.
Marnie – The commands of Jesus aren’t scary when you know how safe He is. “Die to yourself” can have the tendency to look like: Wait, I’m not supposed to be myself? That statement can trigger fear. In my case, it caused confusion. I didn’t know how I was supposed to “act.” Denying ourself does not mean killing our personality and desires, but instead offering our desires up to Him and asking the Holy Spirit to lead, counsel, and shape us as we express Him through our personality. I mentioned that we are safe in Christ—it all stems from His love. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love because perfect love expels ALL fear” (NLT). “If we are afraid, we are not yet fully formed in love” (MSG).
For 17 years, we had our family business in a commercial location. We would occasionally talk about the possibility of moving our shop to our home where we have a recording studio as well. In 2009, it started to make sense, but the undertaking looked very costly. I remember praying in church one day, wrestling with the idea, and I heard the Lord say, “It’s My idea; you just need to do it.” The contemplation was over; it was time to obey (deny self) and act (pick up my cross) in faith. We had 4 months to do the construction for the new shop, including a carport and private entry. By the final month, I was working 7 days a week, Mon. thru Fri. 9am-6pm, coming home to eat dinner, then working on the new shop as late as possible (sometimes until 3am). On weekends, I worked all day and into the night (It was excruciating!). But we made it, moved our old shop on the final day in January, and resumed business at the home shop on Feb. 1st.
The shop stayed completely full and busy, but due to the recession many of our larger clients were up to 6 months behind in paying us. In retrospect, if we had not moved, there’s a good chance we would have gone out of business.
Luke 17:33: Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, whoever loses their life will preserve it. (NIV)
Week 5 – COMMANDS/COMMISSIONS