Self-Denial (111B06)

                  Lordship is making Jesus the Lord of our life. We should realize that our life does not belong to ourselves, but belongs to God since Jesus has died to pay for all our sins. On other words, Jesus have purchased us with His blood; however, God gave us freedom in our life either to have our own will in our life which we think best for our life and have no guarantee of our future or life, or to make Jesus the Lord of our life, having faith in Him and everything is guaranteed because God have a purpose in every one of us. When we live according to his purpose our future and life is guaranteed since God knows what lies ahead of us. If we decide and choose follow God's Will and His purpose for our life we should then follow the way of Christ, since we are made in His image, and follow His cross. To follow the cross of God, we need to first deny ourselves putting the Will of Jesus before our self-will, then the second step is to follow Jesus through surrendering. This story can be referred in the Biblical story in Matthew about the young rich man who does not want to sell his riches in order to follow Jesus. This story shows that the young man failed to deny himself being unable to deny his will.
                  Similar to the story of the young rich man, in the world today, people was not able to follow Jesus making him the Lord of their life because they were not able to deny themselves and being unable to deny their own will. Many people do not want to let go of their will such as pride and pleasure; therefore, many people fail in their life because of their own wrong decision. I personally was still having problem with denying myself to fully follow the Will of God especially in the area of my future plan. It seems to me that I'm allowing God to take control over my life except in the area of my future plans. My will for my future is to be someone rich and famous and I don't want to deny that will.
                  To overcome the problem in self-denial, we should first understand that our life does not belong to us, but belongs to Jesus who has dies for our sins on the cross; moreover, we should also understand that when we follow our own will, there will be no guarantee for our life. On the other hand, if we choose to follow God's Will he have a purpose in our life to follow and that He will always have his grace to protect us that we may not make wrong decisions in our life. God's purpose and will for us will surely never disappoint us and it will always be better than our own will. I personally should also understand that God's Will for my future will be far better than I could think of. Although I may not feel it now, I will surely feel it then; furthermore, God will guide me throughout my life that I may avoid failures. From now onwards I will offer my future and life to God every time I pray, so that I could follow God’s Will unconditionally and also follow the way of Jesus.
                  There is a story about a church worship leader who is known to be a very religious person, but he has a problem with his father. He went into a fight with his father and has never restored their relationship for a very long time. One day, he was counseling with a pastor who told him to ask forgiveness form his father in order to fully serve and follow God. With pride he rejected the fact that he should apologize to his father. The day he decides to reject God’s Will, problems started to come to his life; moreover, the problems pile up day to day until he decided to let go of his pride and apologize to his father. He finds that his old father was lying sick. After he apologizes, his father's smiled and shed a tear. Being unable to speak, his father blesses him with his hand and passes away. Since that day, he was very successful in his life. This story shows how self-denial is very important; although that man was a religious man it does not mean that he have made Jesus the Lord of his life since he was still holding back his pride.
                  As a conclusion, to make Jesus as the Lord of our life, we need to follow His way and cross. Before following Jesus and surrendering our life to Him, we need to first deny ourselves so that we may follow the way of Jesus unconditionally leaving all our wills behind and instead follow God's Will and purpose for our life. God's Will is always the best for us and can be a guarantee in our life. God's Will, will never take us to a place, where God Grace will not protect us.