The Hobbit: Denying Yourself  PRO

The Hobbit: Denying Yourself

In the movie “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” there is a scene where the Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit who is accompanying 13 dwarves on a mission, unexpectedly disappears and seems to have abandoned the dwarves during a crucial battle. They were losing. Bilbo does return and the dwarves are victorious. Afterward Thorin (the dwarf leader) and Bilbao have a conversation.

[Thorin:] “Why did you come back? It matters! I want to know: why did you come back?”

[Bilbo:] “Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you’re right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that’s where I belong. That’s home. And that’s why I came back, cause you don’t have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.”

Bilbao understands what denying one’s self means and we can take lessons from him. As long as people do not have the eternal home that we do; as long as people have no rest and no peace, as long as there is a battle for the souls of men we must deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Jesus.

Denying yourself is a moment (or more accurately a lifetime of moments) when...