Luke 9:23

“If anyone desires to come after Me, he must deny himself . . . .” This applies to everyone. This is the only possible way for us to follow Him—to walk in His steps—because these are Jesus’ steps!

The truth is that there is just one obstacle to following Him, and that is myself—my own will and desires! Nothing else and no one else can hinder me. That is a very straightforward arrangement. Then we cannot blame anyone or anything!

The statement, “If anyone desires to come after Me” is especially significant, because those who want to follow His steps are extremely few. On the contrary, what most “believers” want is something completely different: they want to live exactly as they think best and still get into the kingdom of heaven!

The reality of life is this very thing: the very essence of it is to deny yourself and all that is yours, because that is the key condition. It is impossible to follow Jesus’ steps—impossible to partake of divine nature—without fulfilling this condition.

What does it help if there are so many glorious promises if we do not fulfill the conditions so we can partake of them!

The center of life and salvation is and remains the cross—the cross to which not only Jesus but also our old man, was nailed—all of our self-will and all our lusts and opinions. Rom. 6:6. This applies both day and night all the days of our life during our sojourn on earth! It is a constant choice between the one and the other. Either our self-will or the exact opposite, which is to deny our own will so we can do God’s will as it is done in heaven! Luke 11:2. Either we do God’s will or we do our own will!

In any case, one ought to take Jesus’ words seriously. Who has actually done what Jesus recommended the disciples pray for, at that time when they personally were at a loss as to what they ought to pray for?

Imagine: doing God’s will to the same extent that it is done in heaven! That is exactly the same as to imagine to what an unspeakably great extent we need to deny all our own will every day, in all areas!

What happens to sinning then? According to 1 John 3:8 there will be no more of this many-faceted nuisance. That will be the end of it!

What a joyful message! Only then have we come to believe in the full gospel that is commonly spoken and written about so superficially!

Long live the strait gate and the narrow way which—in spirit and in truth, in deed as well as in actual fact—leads to a completely new life, even to a divine life in the midst of this evil and ungodly world, in the midst of all tribulations and trials—in the middle of the narrow but unspeakably glorious way! Matt. 7:12-15.

If you want to be thoroughly saved and really happy without denying yourself, it is the same as expecting to find grapes on a thorn bush. That is the way it is according to Jesus’ word in this verse of Scripture.