Mark 8:34  “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Yes, deny yourself.  Sounds kinda easy, right?  When you try to do so, it is harder than it sounds!  We struggle daily to overcome our sin nature.  Just when we think we have accomplished the task, we fall.  Or at least, I do!  There is the secular Christmas song, “All I Want for Christmas is You,”  and it can remind us that we do want our all to be for Jesus.  However, we must remind ourselves that secular wishes will not get rid of our sin nature.  Doing good things for others will not save us from our sins.  The Bible is plain on this–we can even cast out demons in the name of Jesus, but if our heart has not love (Jesus), we miss salvation.  We will hear the words, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

We must take up our own cross daily.  That means we must deny our fleshly desires and love others unconditionally.  Jesus knows our hearts!  This is the season to get our hearts right and deny ourselves.  Let’s do it!