Denying Self

“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

~Galatians 5:24

That verse means when we commit ourselves to God we our giving up ourselves completely. There are two major issues we find though in the world today.

1.   We are so self-focused we do not know how to completely give ourselves over to the Lord.

2.   We consider ourselves to be useless and ugly; of no value or importance.

 

Let’s start with number one.

The definition of self is: “The entire person of an individual.”

Have you ever wanted something with your whole being? Take a minute to think about it. Maybe it was car, or a job, or a guy/girl. Whatever is was we have all had a moment of wanting something with everything we have inside. The thing is God wants us to feel that way about Him all the time. He wants us to wake up everyday and decide that today is not about us. We have to give ourselves up.

(Luke 9:23)

“And He said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let Him deny himself and take up His cross daily and follow Me.”

 Our thoughts always tend to wander don’t they? Thoughts like: “It’s impossible to give my self completely. I mean your WHOLE being, isn’t that a little unrealistic. How bout I give you an hour today God?”

We are so easy to forget what God has done for us.

(Luke 23:32-36)

 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. ³³ When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[c] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

³⁶ The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

(Luke 23:44-46)

⁴⁴ It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, ⁴⁵ for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Do you know what He just did? He just died. He just gave himself up completely for you. Body and spirit He sacrificed to God for us. Can we not do the same?

He had full power and full authority to save Himself yet He didn’t. He made a willing choice to die for each and every one of our mistakes and sins that we would ever commit.

(Mark 8:35)

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever looses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Let’s move on to number two. Technically speaking this one should come before what we just talked about, but I wanted you to understand what it meant to sacrifice yourself before I went on to this one. So often we consider ourselves to be useless and ugly; of no value or importance.

You may be a bit confused. I know I was when I first thought about this. Are we not supposed to consider ourselves worthless, and God so worthy? Okay, there is difference between putting yourself higher then God, and thinking of yourself, His creation, as ugly and unimportant. We are not higher then God, but we are also not ugly and unimportant. If we were useless why would Jesus die for us? Self-image is a big issue. The way you see yourself, reflects your relationship with God. You can look at any magazine in a grocery store and immediately feel worthless and ugly. But that’s not the point. Do you know what your body is made for?

 

(1 Corinthian 6:19)

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.”

 

(Ecclesiastes 12:7)

“And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

Your body is just a carrying device. It is a protective coat over your spirit. It was made out of dirt and to the dirt it will return. So, why may I ask are we so concerned with what dirt looks like and not what our spirit looks like. Your body is not worthless, but God did not create it for us to look in the mirrors and see worthlessness, and ugliness. Move your focus. Your focus should be on the things you cannot see in a mirror. Can you see God? No, so put your focus on Him.

(2 Corinthian 4:18)

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Our bodies are temporary moving trucks for our spirits. They are a dwelling place for the Lord. And most of all our bodies are not ours, their God’s. Every time you criticize your body for not being what we deem to be “perfect,” you criticize God and you criticize His creation.

Each day you get up you have to die to yourself. You have to make a commitment to live in a way that is all about God. Life is not about me, and it is not about you. Life is about how you can make God the center focus of the world, and that starts with making Him the enter focus of your own life.

~Hasta Luago Caiman!