Deny your self .... Say what??

I cannot exercise obedience to Jesus’ call to discipleship on my own power or by my own devices. I cannot on my own decide what step will bring me into greater faith. Only Jesus can decide that. The process is simple: He calls - I follow. That is why I become responsible for listening to him and doing as he says.

My faith is not developed or deepened as the result of something I do apart from Jesus’ call. Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it this way: “If, for instance, we give away all our possessions, that act is not in itself the obedience Jesus demands.” In fact something like that might just be the opposite of genuine obedience to Jesus. By doing that, I might be choosing a way of life for myself based on some ideal I got into my head rather than what Jesus really is asking of me. In such a case, in the very act of giving away my possessions, I express allegiance to my own ideals, which may not be in tune with what Christ wants from me.

Recall the story of the rich young man in Luke’s gospel. In that case, Jesus did tell him to give all his possessions away. But that was because Jesus understood perfectly what was holding this man back from a full and unreserved commitment to the kingdom. For me, it just might be material possessions – but then it might be something totally different. Each of us must be able to examine ourselves carefully to discover what the one thing is that holds us back – our Achilles’ heel, as it were. Once we know that, then we can hear the voice of Christ calling out to us to leave it behind so that we can follow.  Jesus knows what that is – but we must discover for ourselves how we must deny our selves so that we can follow him. This might seem impossible – and it is if we try to do it on our own. But then our hopes lies in Jesus’ counsel to all potential disciples - for God everything is possible. He calls us to follow in obedience, and in our obedience, we find the grace we need to believe.