Five Minute Friday - Deny

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One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

deny the truth

deny reality

deny yourselves

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We can either deny the truth and reality about ourselves, or we can accept the truth and deny ourselves. I think it comes down to that. The truth is that we are sinners and don't deserve heaven. The reality is that we can do nothing to save ourselves. When we understand and accept that, we can accept the forgiveness offered by Christ's death on the cross, and we will be moved to offer ourselves to Christ in gratitude. To obey him and follow his will, not our own. Sometimes called: denying ourselves.

On Good Friday, we think of Peter denying that he knew Jesus. Denying the truth about himself - that he wasn't as brave and loyal as he'd thought he could be. But later, after Jesus' resurrection, Peter accepted forgiveness and understood that he couldn't just blindly follow his own will and passions. He learned to deny himself and follow Jesus, and was used mightily in God's kingdom.

Then he [Jesus] said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?"

~Luke 9:23-25~

God is looking for men and women who will never be content with mere experiences and "blessings," but who will take up the cross daily and follow Jesus and thus manifest in their lives and in their service the reality of those words, "It is no longer I, but Christ that lives in me." This, and this alone is the Spirit-filled life. ~Zac Poonen

Denying the truth and reality means we are living a lie. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can be good enough, that we can manage just fine on our own, or that we don't need God. The only way we amount to anything in life is to deny ourselves and the selfish idea that we can do what we want, and accept that we need Jesus and find real life by following him.

If we do not die to ourselves, we cannot live to God, and he that does not live to God is dead. ~George MacDonald

Until you have given up your "self" to Him you will not have a real "self." ~C.S. Lewis

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Truth with self-denial is a better pennyworth, than error with all its flesh-pleasing. ~William Gurnall

This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Deny".

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