What are you going to do with yourself?

It must seem to us that our Lord had such a strange way of winning followers. Whenever we want to win anyone to our cause be it our political party, our social clubs, or our churches, we put our best foot forward in order to appeal to the self- interests of others. We point out the advantages that would attract them to accept our invitation.

How different was Jesus’ method. What bait did he hold out? None at all.

This is what he said to the people whom he wanted to follow Him. Matthew 16:2426 (KJV) states: “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. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

While England was passing through her darkest hour of WWII, Sir Winston Churchill sought to rally the country by challenging his compatriots with blood, sweat, and tears. Churchill must have had a heart of God because our Lord makes it very clear, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.”

Let us say something about this “self.” We see that the trouble with self is that it is always with us. We cannot get away from ourselves. If we have a disagreeable neighbor, we can move away from him. We can change jobs and some people will even leave their marriage partner through divorce, but we can never get away from ourselves. We can go to the uttermost part of the world, but we are there with self. St. Augustine found this out in his spiritual struggles. He said, “I remained to myself as a luckless place, where I could neither stay or get away.”

What, then, does one do with himself? Many answers have been given. The hedonistic, the man bent on pleasure, says enjoy yourself. The teacher says, educate yourself. The doctor says, take care of yourself. The artist says, express yourself. The philosopher says, know Yourself. The psychiatrist says be yourself.

But Christ says deny yourself. That is the Christian way of life. You are your best self when you deny yourself. Allow me to say it yet another way — self realization comes through self denial.

Now, have you ever thought that within each of us there are two selves: One is selfish, fleshly, carnal, lustful and evil. Then,the other one is unselfish, giving, humble, spiritual and good. Christianity maintains that in goodness, truth and humility one encounters reality. It regards evil as an intrusion, rotten and ultimately self-defeating. When, therefore, when one speaks of self denial, he has to ask himself, what self are we thinking about? Is it the counterfeit or the good self?

Another point to remember is that when we do not deny one kind of self, we automatically deny the other. Finally, consider that Christianity sees self denial as being the door of life, both individually and collectively. It is because this is the door that Jesus himself passed through.

We need to take a look at Jesus. Jesus denied himself. Rather than deny God, he denied himself. Rather than deny us, he denied himself. When he preached, taught, healed and worked good works, he said no charge and denied himself. He never married, never had a home to call his own, never wrote a book, never got a pay check and never earned a degree.

Rather, he denied himself and never took credit for his life’s work. He simply said, “I come to do the will of my Father.” If we are to change the negative ways of this world, let us start by looking at ourselves in the mirror.