The Benefits of Denying Self

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. Matthew 10:37-42 (KJV)

The more you die to self, the more you can love people. The more you decrease, the more you can increase others. Forget yourself to think of others. When you help others, God will help you. Dying to self gives us life to help others live.

Get self out of the way to make room for others; to love, bless, and care for them. You die to self so others can live.

Loving Jesus enables us to love others more, but love Jesus more than anyone else. Take up your cross to follow Jesus. We must deny ourselves no matter the cost. The cross speaks of self-denial. We deny self to say yes to Jesus. Let His way become your way, and His will, your will.

Lose your life to find it. Die to live. Give to receive. We lose our lives as we give to others. We lose the self life and gain the God life. His life is a life of giving and serving. When we do this, we receive rewards from God- now and in the life to come.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matthew 16:24-28 (KJV)

Deny Yourself

To follow Jesus, it is required that we deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ. This is what it means to be a responsible Christian.

Lose Your Life

If we try to save our life, we lose it. If we lose our life, we find it. We must lose to gain. The self life is a lower life. A life filled with self is low-level living. it is a life going the wrong way. It is a loser’s life. The self life gains the world but loses his soul. It’s not worth it. When we lose this lower life, we receive our real life, the God life, the higher life. The lower we take ourself to lose our self, the higher we’ll go with God. We must lose it all to gain it all.

Glory

The God life is glory with the Father. We’ll be rewarded according to our works. A life well-lived is a life well-rewarded. Note: this is not speaking of salvation, because salvation is not received by our works but by what Christ has done for us (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Kingdom & Power

As a result of losing self, we will see God’s kingdom and power manifest in our lives now. What an awesome exchange!