Self Denial

More from the book 'The Cost of Discipleship' By Dietrich Bonheoffer.

Self denial.

Dietrich Bonheoffer has this to say -

'Chapter 16  The Hiddenness of the Devout Life.'

'Jesus takes it for granted that his disciple will observe the pious custom of fasting.'

*My take*

I never thought of it this way before reading that statement.

Mat 6:16  Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Mat 6:17  But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

Mat 6:18  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Moreover WHEN ye fast…

When ye fast.  Not - Moreover *IF* ye fast, but WHEN.

When was the last time you fasted for religious reasons? Do you, or did you ever belong to a church that encouraged fasting for religious reasons? The Catholic church uses the period they call 'Lent' in which they give up certain things, fasting concerning certain things, but is that enough and is that the way Jesus wants us to fast?

Jesus  honestly DOES seem in this statement of His to take it for granted that those who follow Him WILL fast. He even goes on and tells us HOW we should fast.

More from Bonheoffer-

'Strict exercise of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian's life. Such customs have only one purpose-- to make the disciples more ready and cheerful to accomplish those things which God would have done. Fasting helps to DISCIPLINE the SELF-INDULGENT and SLOTHFUL WILL which is so reluctant to serve the Lord, and it helps to humiliate and chasten the flesh. By practicing abstemiousness we show the world how different the Christian life is from its own.  If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within the limits of what seems permissible to the world), we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the Flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation.

So the Christian needs to observe a strict exterior discipline. But we are not to imagine that that alone will crush the will of the flesh or that there is any way of mortifying our old man other than by faith in Jesus.'

*Pausing here for my thoughts on all that--

'Strict exercise of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian's life.'  True or false?

So many people love to stand up at this point and firmly deny that they have to show any self-control because if they do, that means they are trying to WORK their way to salvation. Denying self means they believe by that action they are earning merit with Christ, which takes away salvation being only by grace and not of works. But it is CHRIST who spoke those words- 'When ye fast.' He DID say, NO LONGER FAST? No. But He said, 'WHEN YE FAST.'  He expects us to deny ourselves, for fasting IS denying yourself food, or drink, sometimes both. Christ expects this us to deny ourselves, tells us to deny ourselves.

Christ also said this-- 'Mat_16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.'

So we don't have a leg to stand on if we want to deny the fact that we should DENY ourselves, it is truth!

Bonheoffer said- 'Fasting helps to discipline the self indulgent and slothful will which is so reluctant to serve the Lord.' 

My thoughts- We are extremely self indulgent. As a culture here in the United States we are very self indulgent. We are more concerned with ourselves and our own desires than others. We want our ease of living and will stop at virtually nothing to make sure we have relaxed lives, that we aren't taxed too much, that we don't go too hungry or thirsty. Are we slothful? I have to say, yes. The evidence of our slothfulness exists all around us. I don't have to expound on what is plain to see.  Does fasting help to discipline us? Is our call to be a disciple of Christ's a call to self-renunciation?  Jesus said it is-

'Mat_16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.'

Not only DENYING ourselves, but PICKING UP OUR CROSS- all to follow CHRIST.

So, what does it mean when a person claims to be a follower of Christ and yet they NEVER deny themselves and they haven't picked up any cross at all?

We can imagine what it means to deny ourselves, there are a lot of things in our lives we can choose to give up IF we want to do that. We can deny ourselves various food stuffs, we can deny ourselves things that we do for amusement- tv, movies, games, etc. , we can deny ourselves wearing fancy clothing, jewelry, shoes, etc.  We have the ability to deny ourselves things and yet we do NOT want to believe that our God really wants us to do that. We'd much rather believe God wants us to indulge ourselves, that HE UNDERSTANDS!  WE want to believe that because then we don't have to sacrifice anything at all. We don't have to feel the pangs that come along when we deny ourselves things.  Sometimes we've been forced by circumstances to deny ourselves things, and we've moaned and groaned the whole while. The electricity goes out and we are instantly feeling deprived of all that it means to us. Tell me you haven't complained when you've lost electricity. Tell me when your food is served late you haven't grumbled. Tell me when a water main breaks and you have to boil water or get it elsewhere you don't complain. We can go on and on naming various situations where we've been denied things and we've despised having been denied.

Some people in very poor countries grow up denied so much, they live entire lives in what we call deprivation. The idea of living such an existence appalls us.

We are to deny ourselves and do so through our FAITH in Jesus. We are to deny ourselves NOT to gain salvation but because we have salvation already. We are to deny ourselves because our LORD has told us this is something we are to do.

More on all this tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY, the LOVE of our SAVIOR Jesus Christ!