When we have genuinely made the turn, we don’t live for ourselves anymore. We live for Christ and the others He loves. Our conversation does not orbit us but Him. Our service is not to help yourself but others (with no thought of ourselves). We enter the blessed, liberating state of self-forgetfulness and find the biggest and most joyful life possible.
If there is one word that describes the focus of our lives, it is simply “self.” Dozens of words tag along to this root: selfish, self-absorbed, self-focused, self-inflicted, self-appointed … the list is endless.
A Foundational Secret
Against this litany of words is Christ’s small but staggering statement that is designed to break our myopic view and lift us up to right living.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
“If you have this desire,” Jesus said, ” if there is something inside of you that longs for a transcendent life above the pettiness of mere humanity and wanton selfishness, then you must stop against yourself.” It is summed up in two words: “Deny yourself.”
A Two-Way Turn
The two words combined are pregnant with meaning. What does this mean?
Bible translations help us with this phrase. “Deny himself (forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests)” (Amplified); “Give up your own way” (NLT); “Let him begin at once to lose sight of himself and his own interests” (Wuest).
Jesus speaks of a determined choice to turn from a selfish, self-consumed life. Do you always think first of how something or someone will affect you? Are you consumed with other’s opinions?
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