Jesus said to His disciples, ’If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .’ —Matthew 16:24
At some point in my military career, I found myself in Newport, Rhode Island. That winter was the first time I had seen snow flakes. I was amazed by their size and the fact that each one seemed different. I like the saying under this image, “Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.”
It is a credit to our creator God that his imagination is so great as to allow Him to create billions of individuals. We should marvel at that and wonder that He loves us each knowing our differences. However, we sometimes mistakenly worship our individuality. Individuality sometimes shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. Our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes. We can be so caught up in doing our “own thing” that we never get around to learning and doing His thing.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “. . . let him deny himself . . .”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.
Nick
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