Deny Yourself (Discussion)

Deny yourself so you may have eternal life

Matthew 16:24–26 NIV

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

The second part of this passage talks of losing our earthly lives for the sake of gaining eternal life. So if we want to gain eternal life, we should constantly live to deny ourselves and deny our lives for the sake of eternal life with God.

Deny yourself so others may have eternal life

2 Corinthians 4:7–12 NIV

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Here Paul is writing to the Corinthian church that they experience death of what their life could be for the sake of preaching the gospel. He gives many examples of how they are persecuted. He then says in verse 12, “So then, death is at work in us, but LIFE IS AT WORK IN YOU.” So as disciples of God, we not only just simply put to death what we want for the sake of growing in our relationship with God, but we put to death what we want so that others can experience eternal life.

If we can’t put to death our sinful desires, our earthly hopes and dreams, how could we ever let God use us to bring eternal life in others.

As disciples of God, we experience death so others can experience life. Jesus literally died on the cross, was beaten and bruised, and tortured, so we could experience eternal life. So our mission is to put to death the things that we want, even if they seem like good things at the time, so others can experience life. We may put to death a hope or a dream we have, we may put to death a sin that we struggle with, we may put aside discomfort of not wanting to talk to others so we can share the gospel, and the list goes on. So we not only “deny ourself and take up our cross” but we literally consider our lives as dead for the sake of eternal life in others.

2 Timothy 4