The Divine Call of Self-Control

Matt. 16:24-26
Col. 3: 1-14


I never really understood Jesus' teaching in the Matt. passage to be a reference to personal desires. Yet "deny himself" definitely carries those connotations.

Paul describes those things we must deny ourselves of. He says it so forcefully, "Put to death...whatever belongs to your earthly nature." He gives two lists (vv. 5 + 8-9) of things that we are to stay away from because we "have been raised with Christ." He then gives a list of what we should do (vv. 12-14). These lists involve actions just as much as thoughts. In fact, all of the lists contain things that spring from our hearts (which is where our sin is rooted and buried, but where Christ desires to dwell).

The two passages I listed above are both talking about the same thing--following Christ. I think it can be read as a dialogue (even though it probably not originally written this way). Paul points out that Christ has been "raised" and now sits with God. Christ tells us that we can "come after" Him, that is follow Him. Paul then adds that when we are born again (modern term) our life is hidden away with Christ.

I find it intriguing that we say "born again" and Paul often refers to accepting Christ as "dying" (see v. 3). Letting Christ into our lives is really only the first part of this death. It takes conscious effort on out part to help God in purifying us. I am not elevating man here, I am referring to what Jesus' calls "carrying our cross." It is a wonderful part of God's love that He never forces His healing touch on us. After we let Him into our lives, He begin the long job of cleaning our out our hearts. As He goes along, He will reveal to us things that are hidden within our hearts (things we might not even have known about or remembered). We then have to either destroy that things (through Christ's strength and help) and move on to a deeper point in our relationship with God, or we can hold on to that thing and stop in our growth.

The first of these two is our "denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Christ," and requires practicing self-control. The latter is willfully "forfeiting our souls for the world." The latter leads not to glory, but to shame--Christ cannot know those who deny Him.

A final note: we can only achieve a deeper walk by succeeding in our "denial." We can only succeed in our denial by keeping our eyes on Christ. In Paul's terms, "Set[ting] our hearts...[and] minds on things above, not on earthly things." Above--that is where our King is, and that is where we are hidden.



P.S.: That pic at the top is from our property. We got about six inches of snow yesterday! This is unusual for OK...it is really beautiful (though somewhat of a bother!). -Steve