To follow Jesus is to
deny your “self”
Jesus specifically communicated that those who would follow
Him would be required to deny self, for it was that part of man that was of the
world and not of Him.
Paul, the apostle, also spoke specifically clear to the
Ephesian Christians that they must deny the “old-self,” which had become
corrupted by sin and the ways of the world. He encouraged them to adopt the
“new man” which was being developed in them to more like God’s image. “If indeed you have heard Him and been
taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your
former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in
true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:21-24).
Upon Jesus’ magnificent return, our recognition of Him
before men, which begins upon our commitment to Him, will become “a crown of
glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:4). Once we have found Jesus and we
have His Holy Spirit within us we only want that which is then “new.” Our
hunger for the “old” is gone. Praise be to God, and thank You Lord Jesus for
“saving a wretch like me.”