Self-denial as the Will of God: Part two: A high calling, its Meaning, its Benefits, and the Pitfalls of a Self-willed Life

 

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. Luk 9:23-24  

Every believer in Jesus Christ has been called to his life and to the full enjoyment of all that he has promised to us. That change is radical because it is both a death and a resurrection into new life which takes place, as it is written, ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new’ (2Co 5:17). Elsewhere Paul calls it ‘high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ because it involves things of above, as it is written, ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Col 3:1-3).  

 Some of the Chief Benefits of the Life of Self-denial Are:

·      It enables us to see ourselves for who we really are. Self-love hides our ‘secret faults’, but these come out when we are alone with God in prayer or worship.

·      It fixes our minds on what is important. Life is filled with many distractions. And many times it is only in times of adversity like this that we are aroused into new possibilities that we never knew we possessed before. We become, in the end, who we really are – and what God meant us to be. As it is written, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not’ (Jer 33:3).  Trouble came, and in coming, we cried unto God, and he answered, and he showed us mighty things which we didn’t know before. Forced into humility by circumstances like this…we have become far wiser than we were before. And we thank God for it.

On the other Hand the Pitfalls of a Self-willed Life are Many, and include the Following:

·      A self-willed life regards self as the beginning and end, and because they are not open to any other perspectives, they die very poor. Solomon had it all, and who can be richer than a king in this life? But it left him poor. With a thousand women at his fingertips Solomon felt immensely his own loneliness.

·      Other times we occupy ourselves with too many things, and one can die without knowing why they were here in the first place. It’s not that Solomon did nothing, but that he did too many things. He almost lost himself in his own forest.

·      Sadly realizations like this come to us when we have advanced in years… and it is then we start rushing to leave a legacy. Fortunately God is ever merciful, and he gives us our desires! Sometimes you just have to hate a part of you in order to make any headway in life.

·      Self-love can easily morph into self-idolization and self-worship, and finally one can reach the heights of a narcissist without realizing it.

·      Solomon may have had such a person in mind (or even himself) when he prophesied, ‘Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you’ (Pro 1:24-27).  

·      Self-worship will eventually degenerate into self-delusion. ‘He gave them over’ says scripture, and that is a fearful place to be. God gives them over to their own devices. As it is written, ‘And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (2Th 2:11-12).  

·      There are no breaks to the reprobate. But a believer knows his boundaries. The fear and knowledge of God shields him from such excesses. The believer gives himself over to God to be led by him like a sheep instead. A self-willed person knows no such humility.

O LORD, correct us, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring us to nothing.