Dying To Self

Somewhere in Senior Pastor's message last week was a nugget of truth worth repeating.

That Delight in the Lord and Denial of self are both sides of the same coin. Did you catch that?

We cannot bring delight or find delight in the Lord if we come to Him like a sugar daddy or a vending machine which can be manipulated at our every wimp or fancy.

Luke 9:23, Jesus said to them all, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up His cross daily and follow me."

I reflected over three counselling cases which I was involved in recently. In all three cases, the problem would have been solved by Jesus’ prescription - to deny oneself. Ahh, the self is too much with us. Selfishness, self-centredness and self-love. What does it take to come to a point where our delight is God's delight, where we desire what He desires and we care for what He cares?

Impossible to do? Absolutely. It calls for death. Someone who understood this cost of discipleship was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and Christian martyr who wrote this prayer, "Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free."