Following Christ can often seem counter-intuitive. For we read in (Matthew 16:24-25): “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” Here we see that losing one’s life for Christ’s sake will actually lead to finding what we all want – true fulfillment!
Pastor John MacArthur once said: “The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment.”1 But the wonderful thing about the Christian walk is that the only way to obtain true fulfillment in life is through self-denial for Christ’s sake. If you ask the average person what he really wants in life chances are he will tell you he wants peace, joy, and meaning. But we Christians know that the only way to get these things is through having a personal relationship with Christ. And once we enter into that relationship we soon realize that the more we deny ourselves the more peace, joy, and meaning we will receive.
True fulfillment does come at a cost – self-denial – but the tradeoff is well worth it. Without self-denial for Christ’s sake, you may be able to obtain money, fame, power, and worldly prestige but at a steep cost for we read: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Without Christ we may gain worldly possessions and worldly acclaim but at the cost of our own soul.
Self-denial sometimes is the only way to receive a host of blessings. When the Bible tells us it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), it knows what it was talking about. True contentment, real peace and joy, a good name, and the praise of the Lord, are just some of the blessings that come through acts of self-denial for the Lord’s sake. When you do things for personal gain the world may applaud you one minute but forget about you shortly thereafter. However, when you do things for Christ be prepared to hear these wonderful words found in the Parable of the Talents: “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’” (Matthew 25:21). My friends self-denial is truly the pathway to true fulfillment.
1 TOP 17 QUOTES BY JOHN F. MACARTHUR | A-Z Quotes (azquotes.com)