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What did Jesus have in mind exactly when he said “deny yourself and take up your cross.”. Especially the deny yourself part.  He said that if you try to save your life you lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you gain it.  My big idea lately, my take away with those words, is that in one sense Jesus was talking about instant gratification vs. delayed gratification.  I think God loves us and wants us to be happy, so if we deny ourselves the instant gratification that most sin tempts us with, (Moses in Pharaoh’s palace for example) then we will be happier in the long run.  How could we be happier than to be filled with the fruit of the spirit?  It can take a while to get fruit from a newly planted sapling. We don’t get immediate gratification by planting a little apple tree or orange tree. We have to wait a year or two or three before we are gratified by a crunchy apple or a sweet orange.  We do experience immediate gratification when we give in to the lust of the flesh, best defined in Galatians 5:19-21 (sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, and orgies).  Following those verses  we are given a list of the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control). So we strive to deny the lusts of the flesh and instant gratification so that we reap the harvest of fruit that comes with waiting and abiding in Christ, and experience greater pleasure in the long run.