self-denial

Self-denial

E. J. Waggoner

From our youth up we have heard that “Self-preservation is the first law of nature.” This is true; but nature must give way to grace, if we would be saved; and self-denial is the first law of grace; for when Christ was in the form of God, He “counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself” (Phil. 2:6, 7); and He says: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24).