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And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Luke 9:23

In John 3:26-30, we’re told that some of the Pharisees had observed Jesus disciples baptizing, then they went to John and told Him that Jesus had been making and baptizing more people than him; John responded to this earthly observation by saying:

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Jesus’ instruction in the opening verse of Luke 9:23 tells more of how John’s response to the Pharisees is applied.

The phrases “come after me“, “deny himself“, “take up his cross” and “follow Me”, all require the will of man to be practically applied to achieve a result. But although its possible to deny yourself to some level of success in your own strength; There’s One means of strength which eclipses all other means, and Jesus told of it in this verse: Come unto Me.

It’s only through coming to Jesus that the other 3 instructions can be fulfilled in God’s power, as we’re told in Philippians 2:13

For God is the One working in you both to will and to work according to His good pleasure.

Back to the focal verse of Luke 9:23, we find God’s sovereignty expressed in the phrase “come to Me”, here Jesus is identified as the supreme One, all that the Father gives Him will come to Him, eternal salvation is “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.“. There’s no other name under heaven by which you can be saved. All answers are in Christ Jesus.

Then we see man’s responsibility to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Jesus. As John the Baptist indicated in his response to the Pharisees, humility is one of the most prominent characteristics of Jesus that is evident in the Saint’s when we’re obeying these instructions.

But humility doesn’t come easy, when we ask God for the strength to deny carnal self will, unless the denied activity is replaced with something of God’s will, the space created by denial, will likely be filled with something else that is still carnal self will. God doesn’t want the Saint’s to be denying one bad habit, to take up another; we’re told in Colossians 1, what He wants us to do:

… be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God;


being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;

joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Colossians 1:9-12

The result of obedience in denying self and walking in the spirit of God, is beneficial to self, and often to others.

And when the action of denying self is coupled with prayer, God works to sustain the denial, because prayer for help recognises my weakness, while requesting God’s strength. We’re told of it’s result in John 16:23-24

Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.

John 16:23-24

The flesh wants to be prominent in all our thoughts and activities, it doesn’t want your joy to be made complete. and ironically, it wants to claim and boast that it has the strength to deny itself. It would say “I can do this on my own”. But the mind of Christ in the new man, doesn’t partner with the flesh; Requesting God’s help to deny self, is in itself, an act of denying self.

So what types of things are we denying? Well, as much as selfish activities can be laced with immoral content, illicit substances, or more or less socially acceptable content, anything that takes priority over God in our lives at any time, is what we’re to deny. They may be desires of the mind that no one can see, or they may be physical activities, but one of the things they all have in common, is use of time.

When selfish activities are abandoned, there’s more time for Christ; and when this time is occupied with meditating on His Word, it results in the new man in Christ being more determined and better equipped to “take up your cross”; Although this action is most often metaphorical, it is essentially still one’s life being a sustained sacrifice to God, as we’re told in Romans 12:

Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Romans 12:1

We’re told here that the Saint’s physical service to God is a form of worship. This service is expressed in many forms, both during and around the time of congregating with the Saint’s, as well as throughout the week, we’re taught this in Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

When we consider the tasks of the day as being opportunity to express the characteristics of Christ for God’s glory, including all the good and the bad aspects of them, as well as the interactions with others through them, then these are seen from a heavenly relevant perspective, rather than just an earthly one, so the things that would otherwise be a frustration, become a pleasure because of the One were doing them for.

But there’s more to the fruit of obedience than just seeing these tasks in a better light; With blessed eternal relevance, we’ll reap from what we’ve sown, for God’s glory: we’re told of this in Galatians 6:8-10

…the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Galatians 6:8b-10

So I pray that our denying of self, will result in more time spent in service to God, in Jesus name.

APO 18May2026