And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:27)

The kingdom of God is at hand. This demands a response of every human being. Neutrality is not really an option. We will either pit our kingdom against his, try to add his kingdom to our own, or we’ll respond in the only fitting way; namely, to replace our kingdom with His glorious kingdom. Or, as Jesus said it in Luke 9:27 we will deny ourselves and follow him.

But what does that mean? What does it mean to deny myself?

This is why I love the Puritans so much. They don’t rest content with shallow answers. The plunge the depths. Puritans would make terrible bloggers. They couldn’t be satisfied with 4 Ways to Deny Yourself. They’d have to give much bigger lists and much longer blog titles. In The Duty of Self-Denial, Thomas Watson gives fifteen things that the Christian must deny. I give them to you paraphrased and slightly updated.

1. A Christian must deny his reason. “The doctrines of faith do not oppose reason but transcend it”. There are times when the way of the Scriptures does not “make sense” but we must follow God’s Word above our reason.
2. A Christian must deny his will. What we desire must bend to His desires. “If a crooked stick is laid upon ground that is level, we do not try to bring the ground even with the stick, but to make the stick even with the ground.”
3. A Christian must deny his own righteousness, his civilities, duties, and good works. Even our holy things must be denied on the point of justification. We have nothing pure to trust in but Christ alone.
4. A Christian must deny self-confidence. “The vine being weak twists about the elm to support it. A good Christian, being conscious of his own imbecility, twists by faith about Christ.”
5. A Christian must deny self-conceit. “Such as view themselves in the flattering glass of self-love appear bigger in their own eyes than they are. They think their spark is a sun, their drop a sea.” Watson goes on to convince us of the smallness of our knowledge. He aptly says, “Your ignorance is more than your knowledge”. How then can have such proud hearts and minds?
6. A Christ must deny his appetite. “Many dig their own graves with their own teeth”.
7. A Christian must deny his ease. “Never think to be brought to heaven as the passenger in a ship are brought to their ports sleeping.”
8. A Christian must deny carnal policy. In contemporary terms Watson is saying that we shouldn’t labor to be politically correct or savvy but should “hold fast to integrity”. The Christian shouldn’t be like a chameleon. “I grant that Christian prudence is commendable, but the serpent must not devour the dove.
9. A Christian must deny his inordinate passions. Here Watson is talking mostly about the power of the tongue. “Many said, Jerome, who will not be drunk with wine will be drunk with rash anger”.
10. A Christian must deny his sinful fashions. Watson is taking to task those who “wear half their revenues upon their backs”. “O deny yourselves! Pull down these flags of vanity…Let the hidden man of the heart be beautified and bespangled with grace.”
11. A Christian must deny His own aims. We cannot be self-seeking. “Many who have escaped the rocks of gross scandals have been cast away upon the sands of self-seeking”.
12. A Christian must deny all ungodliness. Here Watson takes aim at two particular sins, that of rash censuring and the Christians complexion sin. By rash censuring Watson means those who, “make it a part of their religion to criticize others and clip their credit to make it weight lighter”. We cannot be overly critical people. By “complexion sin” Watson is talking about that one vice that you seem to always trip up over. “The devil can hold a man fast by one sin.”
13. A Christian must deny his relations. “When our friends would prove snares and hinder us from our duty, we must either leap over them or tread upon them.”
14. A Christian must deny his estate for Christ. “Let the wedge of gold be denied for the pearl of price”.
15.  A Christian must deny his life for Christ. He who cannot deny his life for Christ will deny Christ.

I appreciate this list by Watson because it is easy for me to hide behind generalities. Saying “deny myself” can be a bit vague. But really thinking through the specifics of the things I’m called to deny, I’m convicted. Let me daily take up my cross and deny self so as to with reckless abandon follow Christ.

This little book is proving quite helpful to my soul. You can get the Kindle version for under $1.