Deny yourself
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23 "Deny yourself? Now wait a minute, that's not what I signed up for when I became a Christian. I thought that every thing would be just peachy; fine and dandy, that Jesus would make every thing better and easier - that He would fix my every problem." I regret to inform you that that is not the case. What does "denying yourself" actually mean? Well, for one thing it doesn't mean "once you take this pill all your temptations and hardships will just vanish", it is foolish to even think that. It frustrates me when Christians assume that as soon as they accept Christ as their savior, that all their issues will simply just go away. Yes, we are a new creation in Him ( "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away: behold all things are become new." - 2 Cor.