No Regrets in Sacrifice

When I heard Matthew 16:24 “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me,” I could not help but thought about the issue of denying oneself again. How can one do this without any regrets?

Maybe the answer is on what we can gain by denying ourselves. I am reminded about how St. Francis of Assisi lived. His life was a complete denial to himself. In denying himself, he gained so much more. He gained Jesus the lover of our soul.

Married couples probably can easily understand this concept. In marriage, they sacrifice some of their selfish desires because they know that they are gaining so much more in their spouses. They are willing to make this sacrifice because they love each other and they know that by having each other, they become complete. They can make these sacrifices without any grudges because they know that each is making his/her own sacrifices willingly because each has this same realization.

The reason why sometimes we find denying ourselves so hard was probably because we do not realize how great is the reward. The reward is Jesus himself. He is the one who can complete our lives even more than anyone we love. He is the one who has loved us first. He is the one who has done the tremendous sacrifice. If we can continue to know him more and more, to feel his love, to fall in love with Him, and to be amazed by Him, then any kind of sacrifice should be worth it. We are sacrificing little things to gain so much more.


God bless you all,
Adrianus Indra Setiadi

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