“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . . ”
Matthew 16:24
Last week, I shared that I needed to surrender my will to God. Is that all there is for me to do?
The Lord says that after I surrender my will to Him, I have to take another step to demonstrate that my surrender is indeed genuine - I must deny myself.
The transliterated Greek word for deny is Aparneomai (ap-ar-neh'-om-ahee), which is defined as "to forget one's self, lose sight of one's self and one's own interest."
Another dictionary explains it as "to withhold the possession, use, or enjoyment of ..."
Whichever the definition, it simply means that I have to give up the right of ME to HIM! And once this is done, Oswald Chambers remarked that "the remainder of your life will exhibit nothing but the evidence of this surrender, and you never need to be concerned again with what the future may hold for you. Whatever your circumstances may be, Jesus is totally sufficient."
When I truly surrender myself to Him, I will be on my path to be more like Jesus as He truly surrendered Himself to the will of His Father. I must examine myself daily to see what of me that I will have to deny. Is it my pride, my ego, my "works", my plans, my possessions, my idols, or simply me?
Surrendering to Him is not easy, but is reward is far greater than the "sacrifices".
God bless.
Steven
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