PUT TO DEATH EVERY DAY

and He said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:24

What Jesus was saying must be clearly understood to fully appreciate our calling as Christians.  We cannot follow Him as His disciples unless we do what He tells us to do and in this case the command is clear.  This is conditional statement that defines three requirements for those that wish to follow after Jesus - IF we would "come after" Him, THEN we must:

1. First - Deny ourselves.
2. Secondly - Take up our cross daily.
3. And Finally - Follow Him.

Perhaps the first step is the hardest but Jesus modeled that step perfectly for us didn't He?  It's been the problem of mankind since the Garden of Eden and will always be our problem because our imperfect sin nature is contrary to the perfect will of God for our lives that we were made to worship Him forever and ever.

The second step cannot be taken before and unless we deny ourselves. What can we do to deny ourselves? I'm glad you asked -- here are ten ideas:

1. Pray for God to be glorified in our lives and don't continually ask God for something we need - He knows we needed it before we asked him for it.
2. Find a way to spend more time in God's Word - Give Him the time He deserves.
3. Frequently find ways to bless our spouses instead of doing things that we want to do.
4. Routinely volunteer our time at our local church in it's ministry efforts. 
5. Serve others in our neighborhood and community - Be a blessing for God's glory.
6. Sacrifice some of our spending so as to give to others in need (anonymously of we can)
7. Schedule time to routinely honor our fathers and mothers.
8. Instead of watching a TV show we enjoy, read the Bible or Christian books instead.
9. Recognize and limit those actions we take that can be denied because they simply are only self-serving.
10. Tithe to our church to promote the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We cannot think that doing things on this list or a similar list is by itself is a denial of self - Our denial of self is not just actions taken or avoided.  It is essentially an issue of our hearts.  We must assess why we do what we do and seek to limit those things we think, say, and do that are self serving.  We must deny ourselves so we can serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

We should think about this and meditate on Luke 9:24 so God can reveal to us our self-serving ways so we can limit them and live to fulfill the purpose of our lives - to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.