Mark 8:34 Deny Yourself

Mark 8:34

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."

Have you ever wondered what it meant by deny himself...?  In the original Greek it says, "to disown and renounce self, to disregard all personal interests and enjoyments".  Wow, that packs a punch.  It seems like an awful lot to ask, but that's what is required.  If we are going to follow Jesus, we need to put self away, and forget about our own wants and desires.  I'm not saying it's easy, but with each act of obedience we are becoming more like Jesus, and less like our old worldly selves.

What does it mean to pick up our cross and follow Him...  Well, when I looked up the word cross in the original Greek it says, "to undergo suffering, trial, punishment; to expose oneself to reproach and death."  Huh... What did that say?  Am I reading that right?  Yes, but with all of this comes an eternal reward.  Denying one's self, and picking up our cross and following Him isn't the easiest thing to do, but God never said it would be easy.  He did say it would be worth it.

Ok, now all we have to do now is follow Him.  What does that mean?  In the original Greek the word follow means, "To be or become the disciple of anyone as to faith and practice, to follow his teaching."  Ah, I get it.  If we want to become a disciple of Jesus, then we have to follow his teaching.  Jesus constantly denied himself every day, and he literally took up his cross, and died for us.  So, would it be too much for Him to ask his disciples to do the same?

As I'm thinking about this, there is no way a person can do this unless they have the Holy Spirit living in and through them, and the only way that the Holy Spirit can live and work through any person, they have to have invited him to do so.  When we invite Christ into our lives, and we are cleansed of our sins, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart, and our lives, and when we actually are obedient to what The Lord wants, He can work through us, and help us to deny ourselves.  He can help us to bear our cross so that we can follow Him.  The Holy Spirit is there so that we can have the power to overcome our flesh, and to become more like Jesus.  Of course, the Holy Spirit gives us power over darkness, and Satan also.  But, we've got to be drawing our power from the Holy Spirit, because we can do nothing in our own power, but in His power we can do All things... As it says in Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.