Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’

Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

So after the glory of Ash Wednesday we wake today to realIty. How are we to live a holy Lent? Our reading from Luke's Gospel gets down to basics. Jesus says those who follow him must "deny themselves and take up their cross daily". Let us look at the first part of this. To 'deny someone' means you denying knowing them; it means to reject them. But what are we to reject in ourselves? Well, it's not the chocolate or biscuits that many give up during Lent. It's far bigger and far, far, more difficult. We are to reject our natural human inclination to selfishness. We are to follow the example of Jesus who rejected his position as the Son of God to come and save us.

A child learns quickly that if they cry someone will respond. Their natural inclination is to extend this to demanding whatever they want, however unsuitable, and to whomever it belongs. As they grow the "I want" becomes less obvious as they attempt to hide it, but it never entirely goes away and has a habit of lurking underneath many of our life choices.

Self-denial for the Christian means renouncing oneself as the centre of existence (which goes against everything we believe, if we're honest) and recognizing that Jesus Christ is at the centre of our being. This means that each day a battle royal takes place within us between what the Holy Spirit is saying and what our selfish desires are saying! When we are willing to sacrifice our time, our rights, our energy, our comforts, and even, Jesus says, our life, then we shall be denying ourselves.

Today, and each day this Lent, let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us deny one different thing in our life in order to benefit someone else.

Lord Jesus Christ,
help us to want to make changes
to our life,
to put our own wishes on one side
and seek to help others.
Help us to put You at the centre
of our life,
instead of our own selfish desires.
May we learn to deny ourselves
and truly follow You this Lent.
Amen.