Deny Yourself

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26

After the American Civil War and not long before his death, a young mother approached Robert E Lee with her newborn baby and asked for his advice on how to raise her son and make his way in the world. Lee took the infant, looked at the mother, and replied: “Teach him to deny himself”. Lee, a Christian, understood the prerequisite for living a profitable life thru following Jesus and denying oneself. Just prior to the start of the Civil War, he had been offered the command of the primary Federal army by President Lincoln. Lee, along with many other Federal officers, had long been frustrated with the slow promotion in the peacetime army. Due to the exemplary conduct of his duties during that time he had come to the attention of the Commanding General Winfield Scott who had then recommended Lee for this command which would have jumped him from Colonel to Major General, something Lee coveted. The temptation for him must have been great but he declined the offer as he could not lead an army to subjugate his own people of Virginia. He chose honor over self and the glory of almost sure victory over initially a much less prominent position as advisor to Jefferson Davis in the Confederate army. Through God’s providence Lee was eventually assigned command of the Confederacy’s primary Army of Northern Virginia and became legendary in the annuals of military history. However, it all began with denying himself and came with a cross of eventual defeat and sorrow with the Confederacy’s eventual defeat.

This passage in Matthew outlines what is required of someone who desires to be Jesus’s disciple. He must deny himself and take up his cross. That is, he must surrender to God his will, affections, body and his soul. He must not seek his own happiness or gain as the supreme object, but be willing to renounce all, and lay down his life if required. This involves no less than the complete surrender of one’s life to Christ and his will. The reward is the gain of eternal life and a supernatural happiness and contentment even in the midst of bearing Christ’s cross day by day. The result of not denying oneself is to lose their very life in the end.