“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” – Matthew 16:24
While salvation is free being a disciple of Christ will cost you everything. To follow Him we must be willing to deny self so as to please Him. And the demands of discipleship never change. It is the same today as it was when the apostles walked the earth. It is a willingness to walk with the Lord by forsaking all to follow Him. Nothing less will do. Adrian Rogers explained it like this:
“Do you want to be filled with Spirit of God? Do you really? Are you willing to forsake self? God is not going to superimpose His mighty, dynamic power on your old self-life.
Some people think denying themselves is doing without certain kinds of food, going without sleep, or doing without certain pleasures. They think maybe if they go live in a monastery they’ll be denying themselves.
But Jesus didn’t say deny yourself things. It‘s not denying yourself things; it’s denying yourself. Simon Peter forsook his nets early on, but it was a long time before Simon Peter forsook Simon Peter.
Are you ready now to take Self off the throne and enthrone Jesus there instead? Are you ready to say, “None of me and all of Thee”?”
