Every once in a while I probably should let people know that the title of my blog for 61 entries with be the title of the book we as a church are reading together. Your invited to read through it with us, we’re doing 5 two-page chapters a week for 12 weeks and a day!
Today’s topic is self-denial. As a culture we spend a lot of time encouraging people to find themselves. I always appreciate a Rich Mullins thought. He spoke about how culture spends a lot of time trying to get people to esteem themselves, have self-esteem and how this kind of thinking has leaked into the church. “I don’t know how anyone who wakes up with morning breath and bed head” would get confused into esteeming themselves. He would go on to say “the day you lost yourself would be better than the day you found yourself” the day you worked toward self-denial would be a much better day than the day you lived out self-obsession.
A quote from the book…” It is the love of God, admiration and confidence in His greatness and goodness, and the regular experience of His care that frees us from the burden of looking out for ourselves.”
Truthfully a certain level of introspection is of great value to us, BUT, as with anything, too much of it becomes self-absorbed as well. There is a measure of having some sight of our shortfall but being able to see it in the light of God’s grace, power, might, love, justice, and mercy. In the end, being encouraged by who He is more than being discouraged by who we are. The thing you focus on is the direction you’ll move and too much focus on our hearts can lead to simply to more despair rather than the joy of knowing Christ and what we can become through the Holy Spirit alive in us. “So let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.
Self-obsession gets me a certain thing in life. Self-denial gives me access to immeasurable resources, a Kingdom in which to belong, and a purpose for life that one cannot compare with anything the world has to offer. But everyone has to walk through that moment of faith that serving on His ship would be infinitely greater than being the captain of my own.
Truth, Grace, and Time 