When we practice denial there is only one person you need to convince that you are right...yourself. It doesn't matter what others may think or what God thinks. If you have convinced yourself that what you are thinking, saying an doing are right; denial has taken place. Even with the best of intentions we practice denial. There are those who deny they are in denial and obviously are so far away from the truth. God never gives us the green light on denying our sin, sinful actions or the consequences of those actions. We have people who have done that for us, done it for ourselves, and perhaps have participated in doing that for others. Our giving of the green light doesn't make it right. When mankind talks about being in denial they are referring to not acknowledging that thought, deed or action for what it is. "I may smoke/drink/do drugs but I can quit anytime." Really? "My problem isn't that bad and in fact there are a lot of people out there with worse problems." Really? "I love Jesus but don't need to be accountable to God or anyone." Really? "I do my best for my spouse/children/employer/others every day." Really?
When Jesus talks to us about denial there are two parts to the equation. The first is we are to deny ourselves and the second is we are to take up the cross and follow him. In that order. What does it mean to deny ourselves? I would suggest that we deny the old man in us that resembles the first paragraph. Not just deny the old man but deny the thoughts, deeds and words that don't resemble anything Jesus would involve himself in. That's where picking up the cross is essential. Let's imagine that we can only hold one thing at a time. We can hold the old man or we can hold the cross. We cannot hold both. If we try to let go of the one we need to grab onto the other. Some have tried to let go with one hand and grab onto with the other hand. Living in both worlds or on the fence doesn't work. It makes us lukewarm believers and Revelation tells us that the lukewarm believer will be puked up! Denial of any kind renders the power of God out of that area of our lives. It also means we haven't relinquished areas of our lives to God retaining ourselves as "god" of that part of our life. If we are not totally his, what are we?
Believing Christian denial is the most damaging. "It's not my job." "I am not comfortable with witnessing." "I don't believe all the Bible." "Since God is in charge I don't need to support his ministry." "I'm not called to do this or that for God." The list goes on and on. We deny God access to the use of our lives that we have allegedly given to Him to use for his will and not ours. In so doing we are denying God in our lives. Why should we be granted favor from God when we act in this way? Why should people look at you and I and say, "I want what they have in my life." when we don't have it in our lives in the first place. While it would be nice to have a positive outcome for the Christian, denial isn't going to let it happen...unless we deny ourselves and pick up our cross and follow Jesus. It's a simple equation of only 3 steps. Deny ourselves. Pick up our Cross. Follow Jesus. It's also our choice. God isn't going to force us to do something we don't want to do. God wants us to have his heart and his will as our lives are lived our. That requires us to choose to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and to follow Jesus. It really is your choice. What will you choose? Joshua 24:15
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