During the years I taught undergraduate ministry students, I encountered what I consider to be a common misunderstanding of an essential component of discipleship. Nothing is more basic to following Christ than obeying his demand for self-denial and cross carrying. But What exactly did Jesus mean when he instructed his followers to deny themselves? What, in truth, did Jesus have in mind when he established this seemingly counter-intuitve prerequisite for discpleship? Perhaps by default, the frequent interpretation communicated to church-goers is that self-denial equates to self-rejection. We think in terms of what G. K. Chesterton wrote: "There is only one thing which is generally safe from plagiarism -- self-denial" (G.K. Chesterton, The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton Volume 29: The Illustrated London News, 1911-1913). Somehow we confuse denying self with ignoring or at least avoiding self-understanding. The difference is colossal, since knowing one's self is paramount to obeying Christ's command in Mark 8:34. Daily denying of self invokes an ongoing process of self-discovery, for only when I embrace the way God has fashioned me am I ready to relinquish all that I am to Christ. How can I offer to Christ what I'm unaware is mine to give? Such a scenario would be more akin to hypnosis than surrender. In other words, 'DNA' does not stand for "Do not ask." The more I acknowledge my God-granted uniqueness, the better able am I to use that uniqueness in serving him.
"And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." (Mark 8:34 KJV)
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