Jesus “called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’ “ (NRSV, Mark 8:34)

In our modern world one may enthusiastic about anything so long as it is not religion.  You can be as dedicated as you like to politics or football or gardening, but if you take religion seriously then you have a religious mania.  This suggestion of abnormality is put forward by those who accept politics or sport or hobbies as important, but who refuse to take God seriously because to do so would make him an unwelcome intruder on their personal life and liberty.

One practice, therefore, which is regarded as being eccentric, is that of self-denial which the season of Lent brings to our attention.  The world will tolerate, indeed commend, self-denial so long as God as such is kept out of it; so long as it is comparable with a New Year’s resolution or is directed towards the alleviation of human suffering.

Yet Christ made self-denial a condition of personal allegiance to himself. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves…” (NRSV, Luke 9:23).  Since self-denial is specifically required by Our Lord of all would-be disciples, we should have very cogent reasons for ignoring it – and in fact no such reasons exist or can exist.

For self-denial is something much wider and deeper than the foregoing of luxuries, which is only one aspect of it.  Its whole essence is to resist our lower instincts and say No to our lower self, and its purpose is to deepen our relationship with God by making us more devoted to him, more worthy of him, and more useful to him.

Our lower self, containing as it does a disposition to sin – that is, a readiness to rebel against God – is the cause of that conflict within ourselves which makes us such inconsistent creatures.  As St Paul says, “My own actions bewilder me; what I do is not what I wish to do, but something which I hate….it is not the good my will prefers, but the evil my will disapproves, that I find myself doing” (Romans 7:15,19). (1) And St Paul was only echoing what a pagan Roman poet had put less strongly, “I see the better course of action and I approve it, but I follow the worse”. (2)

We may compare our lower self with an unruly horse, and self-denial in its widest sense is the process of breaking it in until it answers obediently to its rider.  So it means continually and firmly saying No to all those self-centred and unworthy impulses which so powerfully surge up within ourselves and which, if left unchecked, end by mastering us.  On those occasions, when our lower self gains the upper hand, it means that our will has got the worst of it, and we have ceased to be free men and women.  Only when the wills of Christians are freely surrendered to Christ do they become truly masters of themselves – for Christ’s service is perfect freedom. (3)

Particular acts of self-denial, therefore, are aimed at strengthening the will so that it may be brought more closely into line with God’s will for us.  Restraint in speech (how many things we say that were better left unsaid!); doing without pleasures or luxuries; self-discipline in the time we give to watching television or playing computer games – in themselves these things may seem trivial.  But only those who have never practised such acts of self-denial would deny their value, for every act of self-mastery in one part of our lives strengthens our will in every part.

Should there be those who think that such acts of self-denial are unnecessary for them, let them reflect on Our Lord’s own practice.  Although Our Lord possessed all the human instincts and needs through which temptations come, unlike ourselves he had no inner tendency to wrong, and yet for all that, he considered it necessary to withdraw into the wilderness of Judea for a six weeks’ fast in order to establish the supremacy of his will.

Successive acts of self-denial pass gradually into a habit of self-discipline in which the lower self obediently subordinates itself and we are freed to devote ourselves more fully and wholeheartedly to pleasing God.

Besides their negative aspect of foregoing this or that, acts of self-denial can have a positive value in themselves.  For if they are offered as an expression of our love for God, they deepen our relationship with him.  We can see that easily enough if we consider the observance of Good Friday and it is also true of Lent as a whole.

The day on which Christ was crucified is spent by Christians not only in quiet thought and prayer, but also in abstinence from pleasures and in partaking sparingly of food.  We do so to show our sorrow for his sufferings and also our love for him who suffered for our sake – for love is most truly expressed by acts of self-sacrifice.  Thus by our simple acts of self-denial during Lent we seek to associate ourselves with the hardships which he so willingly bore for us, and in so doing be brought closer to him.

If undertaken as an annual formality, such acts of self-denial issue only in a barren self-satisfaction; but when inspired by a spirit of love and devotion they foster that generosity of soul towards God which is the special fruit of a well-kept Lent.

References

1. Knox, R. (1948) (Trans from Latin Vulgate) The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, London: Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd.

2. Ovid (Metamorphoses 7:20-21).

3. Book of Common Prayer (1662) The Order for Morning Prayer: the Second Collect, for Peace.  Available from:
http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/book-of-common-prayer/the-order-for-morning-prayer.aspx (Accessed 20 January 2012) (Internet).