The art of self denial.
I was doing an induction for work, we introduced ourselves, I was happy to introduce myself and tell everyone the outside work me but church and being a Christian? Nope. That identity was clearly not a part of me at that time. I have gone out with my new colleagues to the pub but talked about the things of God? Nope. I didn't want to look like some weirdo.
That's right- I read all about the global persecuted church and pray for them daily, they have no legal rights as Christians yet still tell others the Gospel and here was I, legally protected in my Country, yet still not sharing the Gospel.
All of this came to me while I was doing my morning devotion this morning in my sunny garden while I was reading my daily devotionals on Sibbes and Spurgeon. I couldn't stop thinking of self denial.
This teaches us something me and all of us need to do- no not self love, self denial. We must ideally daily, realise that the only thing we really deserve is hell (Ephesians 2:3). We must realise that before coming to Christ we were enemies of God (Romans 5:10) and God could have taken our lives at any time before coming to Christ (God the Son), sending us to hell, yet He chose to save us from eternity past (Ephesians 1:4-5).
We must in self denial also realise that our wants, politics, desires, hobbies, etc secondary to eternity. We must decrease in our opinion of ourselves and He must be increased (John 3:30). We are not the centre of the universe. It is not about us it is about Him ( Psalm 115:1) .
Let us, with self denial grow in Christ- as Spurgeon mentioned in today's 'Morning and Evening' let Christ with His eyes like fire (Revelation 1:14) grab our sins like Samson did with the foxes and set them ablaze. As Sibbes mentioned in my 'Refreshment For The Soul' morning devotional let us be the sun that rises slowly after midnight until reaching midday (When we go to heaven).
Going back to my work- why do we not tell colleagues about Christ? Too much pride and not enough self denial- our identity must be in Him and not our hobbies, politics, etc. Let us all day by day grow until the time our identity is solely in Him.
That's right- I read all about the global persecuted church and pray for them daily, they have no legal rights as Christians yet still tell others the Gospel and here was I, legally protected in my Country, yet still not sharing the Gospel.
All of this came to me while I was doing my morning devotion this morning in my sunny garden while I was reading my daily devotionals on Sibbes and Spurgeon. I couldn't stop thinking of self denial.
This teaches us something me and all of us need to do- no not self love, self denial. We must ideally daily, realise that the only thing we really deserve is hell (Ephesians 2:3). We must realise that before coming to Christ we were enemies of God (Romans 5:10) and God could have taken our lives at any time before coming to Christ (God the Son), sending us to hell, yet He chose to save us from eternity past (Ephesians 1:4-5).
We must in self denial also realise that our wants, politics, desires, hobbies, etc secondary to eternity. We must decrease in our opinion of ourselves and He must be increased (John 3:30). We are not the centre of the universe. It is not about us it is about Him ( Psalm 115:1) .
Let us, with self denial grow in Christ- as Spurgeon mentioned in today's 'Morning and Evening' let Christ with His eyes like fire (Revelation 1:14) grab our sins like Samson did with the foxes and set them ablaze. As Sibbes mentioned in my 'Refreshment For The Soul' morning devotional let us be the sun that rises slowly after midnight until reaching midday (When we go to heaven).
Going back to my work- why do we not tell colleagues about Christ? Too much pride and not enough self denial- our identity must be in Him and not our hobbies, politics, etc. Let us all day by day grow until the time our identity is solely in Him.
