Tag: self denial

My parents were a part of what journalist Tom Brokaw calls “The Greatest Generation.” My dad fought with the army in South Pacific, was wounded, came home, married, and did his best to provide for a brood of five, a girl and four boys. My mom was the typical late twentieth century mother. She loved us, read us stories, stretched a dollar twenty ways and hid the leftover change in the cookie jar. When Dad died, and even before, Mom went to work to provide for the family. Their generation was the greatest because they knew the true meaning of words like love, sacrifice, and honor.

My brothers and sister and I never suffered. My brothers had bikes and skateboards. I had a trike that I peddled down the street after my sister and her boyfriend. I don’t remember my parents spoiling themselves, though. The never purchased anything on credit. They never owned a new car or fancy clothes. A photo of my parents sitting in my grandmother’s travel trailer shows Dad looking very uncomfortable. He would never own such a trailer or a nice enough car to pull it with.

We children never went without anything we really needed. Because of the sacrifice of my mom and dad, I didn’t realize until I was grown that I had grown up poor.

The Apostle Paul calls us in Romans 12:1 to be a living sacrifice to God. A traditional animal sacrifice in the first century consisted of the very finest. It was an animal without flaw, perfect, and pleasing to God. Jesus, God made flesh, presented His perfect life as a permanent and perfect sacrifice for all mankind. This being the case, then, why is it that Paul call us to present ourselves sacrificially.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

– Romans 12:1

Here, he speaks of our daily walk with Christ. Just as my parents sacrificed so much because of their love for me and my siblings, Paul tells us that our love of God should compel us to sacrifice our own selfish desires and seek the finer things that God offers us.

We should surrender ourselves daily to God. After all, God sacrificed His only begotten Son for you and me.

The 1970s ushered in a great many changes to Christianity: the Charismatic Movement, the Ecumenical Movement, and the Prosperity Gospel all moved into the spotlight. Before 1970, there was a great deal preached about self-denial and little said about self-esteem. In the mid-eighties, I heard the song, “When He was on the Cross, I was on His mind,” and thinking that this sounded self-centered. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with this now classic song by The Florida Boys; all I am saying is that I asked myself that question.

It is true that while Jesus was on the cross, He thought about you and me. This is evidence in His prayer for forgiveness of those who crucified Him. My point is that, sometimes, our worship begins to focus on ourselves instead of the great love God expresses towards us in the person of Jesus Christ. At some point, it becomes prideful, and self-centered.

The Word of God consistently calls us to a life of self-denial, and not self-love. Very little is written in the Bible about boosting the ego of Christians, but much is said about avoiding self-love. Instead of loving ourselves, we are to love God, praise God, worship God, and obey God.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

-2 Timothy 3:2-5

So, how is it that sinful man would ever want to deny himself or herself in order to worship God? There is no human explanation. I can only say that when one hears and comprehends the Word of God, and one experiences the love and acceptance of God, the natural response is to deny self, and instead focus on God. Take a look at the Zacchaeus, tax collector. Here is his response to hearing the loving and accepting words of Christ:

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

He didn’t have to be told to deny himself. His self-denial was in response to repentance, offered in the realization that he was but a filthy sinner staring at a pure and holy God. That should be our response, too. We deny ourselves so that we may fill our hearts with His Spirit, and our minds with His Word.

They Were the Greatest

Daily Devotion for 10 August 2016 – Self Denial