The Bible tells us in 1 John 5vs12 that; “He who has the Son of God has Life, but he who has not the Son of God has not Life”. This simply means that to be truly alive in God and fellowship with Him, we need to have and follow His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ then told us in Matthew 16vs24 that; if anyone wants to come with Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him. Self-denial is a major virtue which anyone that wants to follow Jesus Christ must exhibit. Self-denial is a virtue of separating, cutting off, or rejecting things that are not of God. It is the determination to stay away from anything that is not in line with God’s Will. What are the things are we expected to deny ourselves if we want to follow Jesus successfully? Love of money, lust of the flesh and pride of life are majorly what Jesus Christ wants us to deny ourselves from.
In general, whatever is not in line with God’s expectations for us should be avoided. There’s no way you can run after Jesus when the weight of the world is on your shoulders. There’s no way you can desire to follow Jesus when your heart is always lusting after the flesh. There’s no way you can focus on Christ when all you think about is your selfish gain. All these things and many more have a way of pulling us away from Christ even if we profess to follow Him and that’s why He asked us to separate ourselves from them. Only those who successfully separate themselves from the world can truly follow Jesus Christ, but those who aren’t willing to deny themselves from the things of the world are most definitely not ready to follow Him. Until you are ready to deny yourself, you cannot successfully follow Jesus Christ to where He want you be found – John 14vs6.
NWAJIAKU CHARLES CHINONSO (Active Member)
#MouthpieceOfGod
. . . God Cares!
