We have lost the language of self-denial in a self-consumed age. We have not only seen it as unnecessary for our day; we have come to despise it as a “bad thing”. Self-denial is at the core of the teachings of Jesus. It is necessary if we will bear His cross and take up His kind of co-suffering love in the world. “And he said to them all, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me’” Luke 9:23 (KJV). We prefer other ways than self-denial to live our life in the world, but our way is not His way.
