lose you to love me
i hope nobody wakes up hoping for suffering. We usually pray for protection, stability, clarity. We ask for open doors, we ask for strength.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc
Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross” (Matthew 16:24).
what does it actually mean?!?!
Self-Denial Is Not Self-Erasure
when i was younger, i used to misunderstand that dying to self means self-denial = becoming less human. less desire. less personality. less presence. But that self that must be denied is not the self God created. It is the self that has turned inward. The proud self. The autonomous self. The self that insists on being ultimate.
To deny the self is to deny the illusion of independence.
not the destruction of personhood but reordering of it.
Jesus was fully human. i learn tht if sanctification made us less human, then Christ would not be our model. The goal is not disappearance but restoration.
When comfort is stripped away, what remains?
When reputation collapses, what holds you together?
When loyalty to Christ costs something tangible, what surfaces inside?
Peter writes, “Rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ” (1 Peter 4:13). That sounds impossible to me at least, until i understand what suffering exposes.
i slowly learnt tht suffering removes illusions as it exposes false securities. Career as savior/ approval as oxygen or control as stability.. &when those are threatened, we discover what we were really leaning on. = in that sense, persecution is not just external pressure. It is internal revelation.
SUFFERING IS NOT THE END OF HUMANITY
There is a temptation for me to think suffering diminishes us. That it erases strength. That it shrinks us into something weaker.
But Paul writes, “If we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17).
Suffering doesnt erase humanity because it refines it like fire to metal, it reveals what is solid and what is fragile. There is a difference between affirming the sinful self and affirming the redeemed self. The sinful self clings to pride, control& recognition. The redeemed self clings to God.
quiet work on self-denial
its true tht not all suffering is dramatic, not all persecution is public.
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… sometimes self-denial looks like choosing integrity when compromise would be easier. sometimes it is forgiving when resentment feels justified. sometimes it is refusing retaliation when retaliation would feel powerful.
Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
saying no to the instinct that says, protect yourself at all costs. It is saying no to the reflex that says, assert dominance. It is saying no to the narrative that says, you must win to survive.
Self-denial is strength directed away from self-exaltation.
Y is it sooooo hard to masses
coz suffering feels like loss, and in one sense, it is.
lose control. lose reputation. lose ease. lose certainty. ; ( but i learn tht what we lose is not our humanity, it is the illusion that you were ever even self-sufficient.
Persecution and suffering press a question like:
Who are you when everything else is stripped away?
identity shouldnt be rested on comfort bcoz suffering can destroys it.
& if identity rests on status, persecution would threaten it.
learning tht identity rests on Christ, suffering refines it. &thts why self-denial is necessary as it loosens the grip on everything that cannot survive eternity.
Christianity does not glorify pain for its own sake. trauma. aches.. it insists that suffering, when united with Christ, is formative.
The world says, protect yourself.
Christ says, deny yourself.
The world says, preserve comfort.
Christ says, take up your cross.
The world says, survive at all costs.
Christ says, lose your life to find it (Matthew 16:25).
reorientation is the word.
as i grew, my perspective on persecution and suffering help me understand n expose the false self. Self-denial clears the space. And what remains is not emptiness, but a deeper attachment to the One who cannot be taken away.
in short,
self-denial is not about becoming smaller.
Its about becoming truer.
#thuglife
