Deny Yourself
Source: Jon Jorgenson
Lately, I've been pretty down. Like, I can't really feel true happiness, true joy, I don't know why.
Suddenly, just now, I had the urge to watch some videos of Jon. I mean, he's such a great teacher tho. I've been watching his videos for a few months now, or maybe even a year. The latest video was titled 'Deny Yourself'. Without any hesitation, I decided to jump right to it and oh boy I was enlightened.
This passage was pretty confusing at first, to be honest. Look at all the contradictions.
"save their life will lose it"
"gain the whole world yet lose their very self"
Jon describes this as 'counter-intuitive' basically a term to describe something that's contrary to intuition or to common-sense expectation.
But, Jesus was referring to two different"selves" and "lives"
-Two Selves:
a. The self that doing the denying (New self)
b. The self that was being denied (Old self)
The 'old self' loves the things of this world, human appreciation, popularity, human approval, temporary things, more than Jesus. While the 'new self' chooses Jesus over anything that the world has to offer.
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self" becomes "What good is it for old self to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their new self"
Denying yourself means to choose to be the person that Jesus wants over being the person that this world wants. You can't have both, of course.
Seems way more understandable, right?
-Two Lives:
a. Physical life (relationship with earthly stuff)
b. Spiritual life (relationship with God)
"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it" becomes "For whoever wants to save their physical life will lose their spiritual life, but whoever loses their physical life for Me will save their spiritual life"
Denying yourself means to choose fulfilment on your spiritual life over mere comfort.
Jon did give another kind of example on this thing. Say that you're going on a diet. You're battling yourself whether you'll eat the entire box of chocolate or not~ So true
And also, when a person is on a diet, their new mindset is for the longer-term kind of things, such as great stamina, great body, great strength, and so on. While the old mindset is for the shorter-term kind of things, such as the delicious taste of the chocolate.
Aligned with the bible passages, 'new mindset/new self' allows us to behave for the longer-term and better type of reward: the eternal life with Jesus.
Bisous,
Serafina
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:23-27)Lately, I've been pretty down. Like, I can't really feel true happiness, true joy, I don't know why.
Suddenly, just now, I had the urge to watch some videos of Jon. I mean, he's such a great teacher tho. I've been watching his videos for a few months now, or maybe even a year. The latest video was titled 'Deny Yourself'. Without any hesitation, I decided to jump right to it and oh boy I was enlightened.
This passage was pretty confusing at first, to be honest. Look at all the contradictions.
"save their life will lose it"
"gain the whole world yet lose their very self"
Jon describes this as 'counter-intuitive' basically a term to describe something that's contrary to intuition or to common-sense expectation.
But, Jesus was referring to two different"selves" and "lives"
-Two Selves:
a. The self that doing the denying (New self)
b. The self that was being denied (Old self)
The 'old self' loves the things of this world, human appreciation, popularity, human approval, temporary things, more than Jesus. While the 'new self' chooses Jesus over anything that the world has to offer.
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self" becomes "What good is it for old self to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their new self"
Denying yourself means to choose to be the person that Jesus wants over being the person that this world wants. You can't have both, of course.
Seems way more understandable, right?
-Two Lives:
a. Physical life (relationship with earthly stuff)
b. Spiritual life (relationship with God)
"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it" becomes "For whoever wants to save their physical life will lose their spiritual life, but whoever loses their physical life for Me will save their spiritual life"
Denying yourself means to choose fulfilment on your spiritual life over mere comfort.
Jon did give another kind of example on this thing. Say that you're going on a diet. You're battling yourself whether you'll eat the entire box of chocolate or not~ So true
And also, when a person is on a diet, their new mindset is for the longer-term kind of things, such as great stamina, great body, great strength, and so on. While the old mindset is for the shorter-term kind of things, such as the delicious taste of the chocolate.
Aligned with the bible passages, 'new mindset/new self' allows us to behave for the longer-term and better type of reward: the eternal life with Jesus.
Bisous,
Serafina
Comments
Post a Comment