June 12
Self-denying love
“Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
“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” (Matt. 16:24).
On the whole, then, to deny ourselves is to deny our own will where it does not fall in with the will of God, and that however pleasing it may be. It is to deny ourselves any pleasure which does not spring from and lead to God; that is in effect to refuse going out of our way, though into a pleasant, flowery path; to refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste.
The great hindrance of our receiving or growing in the grace of God is always the want of denying ourselves or taking up our cross.