But you can breathe a sigh of relief for we will only look at two kinds of self-denial, two truths that will help our daily walk with Christ to be much more joyful and full of grace.ġ) Christians must deny their own righteousness.
Thomas Watson gave a list of 15 different kinds of self-denial. And practically, it can be manifested in various ways in life. It means to look to Christ as the eternal good and ultimate satisfaction. In the perspective of the gospel, self-denial means the end of seeking any good and righteousness in “self” to earn God’s favor. We must have a healthy biblical view of self-care that we are fully accepted, forgiven, adopted, and loved in Christ. Self-denial does not mean you are denying everything about who you are, your talents, your personality, and your life-long desires. What does Christian “self-denial” mean? Before attempting a biblical definition, it might be helpful to consider what it does not mean. However, there must be clarification regarding what it really means when Christians are denying their “self” daily in practice. When it comes to an understanding of self-denial, we might naturally think that this practice was originated from the great philosophers or religious leaders like Socrates, Buddha or Gandhi, but we should not be surprised that the practice of self-denial originated from the very the mouth of Christ, the Word of God.
Jesus says in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” If we truly believe all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, then it’s not difficult to embrace that one of the primary principles of Christianity is “self-denial.”