Deny Yourselves

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 9:23

I've mentioned in an earlier post (somewhere) that God commands us to do certain things and to live a certain way because it is a reflection of His holy character. We're commanded to be holy because He is holy (Leviticus 11:44). If this is so, why does God ask us to deny ourselves? "If we are faithless, he remains faithful- for he cannot deny himself," (2 Timothy 2:13). If God cannot deny Himself, why are we asked to? The reason is because man is fallen, God is not. Because of the sin in us we are not true to ourselves, we are not holy, nor are we completely good like God is. We have to deny our sinful natures and live for God. We have to deny ourselves and submit ourselves fully to God in order to be who we were truly meant to be. God, however, has nothing to deny. He is completely good, holy, and perfectly true to Himself. In this way God isn't commanding us to be something opposite of Him. By commanding us to deny ourselves, He's commanding us to be more like Him: holy, pure, and completely true to ourselves.