Well, I wasn't kidding about my busy July! I looked at the calendar and just realized it's the first of August! The last month flew by, but the kids & I had a great time up north and I had a fantastic visit with my sister. It was too short, of course, but we had a great time and they have a great place out East.
And now with school starting only a month away, I'm trying hard to get back into my routine. The last thing I need is to be staring at Labor Day Weekend and realizing that I'm not at all ready to start my mornings. It's hard to believe this fall I'll have a first grader and a kid in 4K...sheesh...
Anyway, I had an interesting read this morning. The passage was Luke 9:23-27:
23And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
24"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
25"For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
26"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
27"But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." (NAS www.biblegateway.com)
So, two things here...denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily. The second, I think I get. Taking up our cross = Christ never promised that this life would be easy. On the contrary, He said it would be filled with struggles and persecution because we belong to Him. To take up our cross means (I think anyway) to take the good with the bad and press on toward our final goal, serving Him and living eternally with Him in heaven. It means accepting Him as our Savior and realizing that His plan is perfect, even when we don't understand His timing.
But denying ourselves...that one stumped me this morning. My head sort of gets it--denying the things of man and putting ourselves aside. My question is simple and is put out there for anyone to help answer...
How in the world do we deny ourselves?????
Literally, HOW do we do this? How do you rid yourself of your selfish desires and natural inclinations to give in to what you want on this earth? How do you help yourself remember that it's not what you want that counts, but what our Savior wants of you? I'm actually looking for practical answers here. I understand that we all must need reset buttons as even Christ reminds us to do this "daily." Even He knows we couldn't just "set it and forget it." We need to do this on a daily basis.
But how? This, to me, seems like one of those phrases that goes in the same category with, "Trust Him." How? Not why or when, but HOW?
I appreciate any insight you have on this matter...in the meantime, I'll be taking up my cross in the form of laundry, kids, dinner and clutter on my dining room floor....
2 comments:
Your question is great. I struggle with the practical side of scriptural application all the time. I would love to hear what other people think as well.
Here what came to mind for me from Galatians in chapter 5 verses 16-17.
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
My opinion is that God is not necessarily looking for specific actions. I think he is looking for heart attitudes and the actions merely stem from those heart attitudes.
To me verse 16 is the key to this. If we are walking in the Spirit then we will not follow our selfish desires.
Verse 17 reinforces the point that this is a continuing struggle that our fleshly desires and the Holy Spirit in us are constantly at war.
I think the practical side of this can be anything as long as we are walking in the Spirit.
1) Doing the laundry (where's your
heart attitude about it?)
2)Putting the kids needs above our own
3)Picking up, or having the kids pickup the continual mess that kids leave in their wake (That requires a huge amount of patience)
4)Helping out a friend whether it's convenient or not
5)Taking a job that under pays and sometimes goes under appreciated because you know you can present the gospel and christian living to young minds that desperately need it.
My opinion is that denying ourselves is not as much about giving up everything, every want, desire or possession as it is changing our heart attitude to desire the things that God wants for us. Sometimes that's easy... doing menial tasks with a joyful heart, and sometimes it is very very hard.
Well for better or worse those are my thoughts. I don't know if it helps with the practical side of things or not.
Forever Yours,
Me
What is the modern thing to do when you have a question you can't answer? Google it. So I googled "how to deny yourself". Funny as that may be, I actually was also lead to Galatians.
There, it seems, is a continuation of the idea, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I live now in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". Or maybe this finishes the idea. Deny leads to Die leads to Live by Faith.
So then, is it easier to ask the question "How do I Live by Faith?" This is much easier for me to relate to anyway.
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