Deny, Deny, Deny

Deny is a four-letter word.  To deny oneself in America today is counter-cultural.  No one does that.  It’s about my needs, my things and my rights.  We want it our way and if we don’t get our way, we leave the sandbox with our toys.  We promote ourselves via social media with streams of mundane information about “ME.”  We have stopped taking pictures of other people and have started using a long stick and a camera function in order to take pictures of “ME”.  To be asked to give up anything and deny oneself in this world is akin to cursing someone’s very being.  How can I give up anything and expect anything in return?

Matthew 16:24-26

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 

I chose these earrings from my jewelry box to adorn my Mother for burial.  I could not just run out and find earrings because my Mother did not have pierced ears.  I had saved earrings for her but they were pearls and that just would not do so I handed the funeral director my beloved clip-on rhinestone earrings.  Two weeks ago, I opened a bag from my parent’s home that I had forgotten about and to my amazement, the same exact earrings I had given to her, she returned back to me.

Why keep what you have and lose it all. When you deny self and take up your cross, God returns much more that what you gave up.  Self-denial is definitely a four letter word spelled, LOVE.