Desire and Denial

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

Matthew 16:24-25

Jesus has extended an invitation for anyone to follow Him.  The conditions are simple enough:  desire to be with Jesus, deny self, take up his cross, and follow Jesus obediently.  It is an tragic position when a man desires to follow Jesus but is unwilling to give up his own life.  Jesus talked about many people who would call to Him "Lord!" on the day of judgment, citing their great works for His sake, but Jesus will deny any knowledge of them.  They called Him LORD with their lips, but they never met His conditions of self-denial and faith demonstrated by obedience.  Unwilling to carry their own cross, some wander from Calvary and substitute good works which cannot save.  If I am unwilling to deny and die to self, than I am not Christ's.  Of this I am certain.

Our existence on earth is really a struggle between the life of Christ and the ways which lead to death.  It is not like Jesus holds one of my hands and Satan the other, both pulling and entreating me to go their way.  One major trouble with this picture is I am not neutral in my allegiance, but naturally selfish and sinful.  Another problem with the view is it is not consistent with the character of Jesus.  He does not play tug of war with souls.  The reality is my sin nature and Satan have held me with countless bounds in prison awaiting death for my crimes and Jesus came to me in my ruined, powerless state.  When I admitted my guilt in repentance, Jesus broke every bond which held me fast.  He caused me to be born again and the door of my maximum security prison cell swung open.  If I desire life, then I must desire Jesus and abide in the Way, Truth, and Life.

Let me ask you:  what was your motive for coming to Christ at the beginning?  What is your motive for seeking Him now?  When I was at Camp Kedron, I took part in an object lesson where all the campers were given four playing cards.  The object of the game was to obtain a "perfect score," four cards which added up to 40.  Each face-card and the "10" was worth 10 points.  The rules of the game are every person was required to walk around the room, find someone with cards, place your finger on a card held in someone else's hand (like "Old Maid") and draw at the same time.  You need not play the game long before you realise it is impossible to have the perfect score.  A player may hold a card worth 10 points for a while, but it is only a matter of time before it is swapped with a low card.  Even if by chance you did obtain the perfect score, you would need to continue swapping with other players until game end.  One different aspect of this game is all who did not have a perfect hand by the end of the game would be subjected to a punishment - which in our case was a cream pie to the face.

My role in the game was to walk around and make offers to the players.  Instead of trading cards, my role was to say, "Give me your cards, follow me, and I will take your punishment."  The various responses of people was interesting.  Some were so intent on playing the game they looked blankly at me and walked away.  Others were happy to unload their cards.  The most common response I had was people handing me their cards and in a carefree manner walked away!  I said to them, "Hey, you can't just walk away:  you need to follow me."  "Oh!" they would say, and sometimes they would actually follow me.  Some would head off to hang out with their mates.  The game continued until my "followers" were confronted for not having cards, and at that time I held no less than 70 cards with only one face-card among them.  I revealed my hand which had been hidden during the game:  four Kings, a perfect score.  Even though I held a perfect hand, I needed to take the punishment for holding those horrible cards for others.  Hopefully the pie to the face I received made the impression intended:  Jesus took our punishment on the cross for our sins, and we must follow Him.

I believe many people today are like those kids who were happy to unload their damning cards which demanded a punishment but had no desire to follow me at all.  No one wants to be condemned, and the concept of someone taking our punishment for nothing has appeal.  If we have only come to Christ to unload our guilt so we could go our own way, we have not followed Christ.  According to Christ's conditions such are not born again or saved!  We must want Christ and the life found only through faith in Him - not just forgiveness of a debt we could not pay.  People in financial difficulty choose to declare bankruptcy - not because they are sorry about their spending habits or have taken intentional steps to repay all debt - but to cut their loss of possessions, to avoid creditors, jail time, or foreclosure!  There were likely many in the bunch which heard the words of Jesus that day who fit in this category in a spiritual sense, and no doubt there remains many to this day.

We are all guilty sinners before a holy God, and He alone has the ability to cleanse and redeem us.  He will do this only when we meet His conditions to repent and place our faith in Him.  If we want to go where Jesus is going and be where He is for eternity, then we must follow Him.  This means committing our past, present, and future entirely into His hands.  We must lay aside all our selfish aspirations, dreams, and plans, burning them on the altar as a freewill offering.  We are called to obedience and to submit to God so the life of Christ can be lived through ours.  Jesus has become our life, much more than a belief system or moral compass.  As a purchased possession by the blood of Jesus, we can joyfully submit to His guidance and find contentment in every situation.  There are times we am not content, but when we repent and fix our eyes upon Christ again joy and peace is restored.  Are you following Jesus today?  Our desire of Christ is evidenced through denial of self.  If you want to dwell with Him for eternity, today is the day to begin in earnest.