Luke 9:23 

A Call to Discipleship

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to become My follower,

he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

 

Deny

 

The natural desire to live we need to deny

We should hunger simply to go through life like Him

Leaning on His Vitality to supply our every need

Moment by moment delivered from all sin

 

He only requires for us to exercise our will

In an active manner believing in His Name

Consistent in denial of our own nature’s efforts

To exchange it for divine as He appropriates the same

 

If we die to ourselves than the function of our will

Continues to be renewed by God without hesitation

He’ll under gird ability to put on the mind of Christ

And this my friend is simply called sanctification

 

Man as a person must exist and his will must continue

His natural life must die so Christ can live in us

Death to self simply means, death to life itself

And all that’s geared around it and occupies as such

 

In a way it refers to death of personality

But we must not efface self and render it non-existent

We would then become harsh, uncompassionate and insensitive

Very close to useless to God in His Persistence.

 

The devil is just waiting for us to go that route

He’ll jump at every chance when we harden ourselves

He slips us many thoughts to our justification,

if we choose not to love our neighbors as ourselves

 

Jan Wienen