DENYING ONESELF
"To deny oneself is not to do without something or even many things. It is not asceticism, nor self-rejection or self-hatred, nor is it even the disowning of particular sins. It is to renounce the self as the dominant element in life. It is to replace the self with God-in-Christ as the object of affections. It is to place the divine will before self-will" (New American Commentary, Mark).