48 Bible Verses about Self Denial

Then Jesus said to His disciples: "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must say 'No' to self, put his cross on his shoulders, and keep on following me.

Dearly beloved, I beg you as aliens and exiles to keep on abstaining from the evil desires of your lower nature, because they are always at war with the soul.

because he preferred to suffer hardships with the people of God than to have the passing enjoyment that results from sin,

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must drink no wine nor strong drink, and so he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his birth.

"For John the Baptist came eating no bread and drinking no wine, and yet you say, 'He has a demon!'

Then He called the people to Him along with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must say, 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders, and keep on following me.

Then He said to them all, "If anyone chooses to be my disciple, he must say 'No' to self, put the cross on his shoulders daily, and continue to follow me.

Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? Why, I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus."

But for Christ's sake I have counted all that was gain to me as loss.

So if your right eye causes you to do wrong, pluck it out of your way; for it is better to have one part of your body suffer loss than to have your whole body go down to the pit.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

And as He was passing along from there, He saw a man named Matthew in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed Him.

He went out of the town again and along the seashore, and all the people kept coming to Him and He kept teaching them. And as He was passing by, He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting in the tax-collector's office, and He said to him, "Follow me." Then he got up and followed Him.

After this He went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi in his seat at the tax-collector's desk, and He said to him, "Follow me." So he left everything behind, got up and followed Him.

If your hand makes you do wrong, cut it off. You might better go into life maimed than keep both your hands and go down to the pit, to the fire that is never put out.

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come back here and follow me."

Then Peter answered Him, "We have left everything we had and followed you. What then are we to get?"

Then Peter started to say to Him, "We have left everything we had and followed you."

Then Peter said to Him, "We have left our very own, homes and all, and have followed you."

And everyone who has given up home or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms, for my sake, will receive many times as much, and in addition will be in possession of eternal life.

Jesus said, "I solemnly say to you, there is no one who has given up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farm for me and for the good news, who will not receive now in this life a hundred times as much in houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, but along with them persecution, and in the world to come eternal life.

So after they had brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

"Just so, no one of you who does not forsake everything that he has, can be a disciple of mine.

But ever be on your guard, so that your hearts may not be loaded down with self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries, and that day, like a trap, catch you unawares.

But now I count as nothing the sacrifice of my life, if only I can finish my race and render the service entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, of faithfully telling the good news of God's favor.

Not at all! Since we have ended our relation to sin, how can we live in it any longer?

for if you live by such a standard, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you put a stop to the doings of your lower nature, you will live.

I beg you, therefore, brothers, through these mercies God has shown you, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies as a living sacrifice, devoted and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and put a stop to gratifying the evil desires that lurk in your lower nature.

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is good for me. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not become a slave to anything.

Any man who enters an athletic contest practices rigid self-control in training, only to win a wreath that withers, but we are in to win a wreath that never withers. So that is the way I run, with no uncertainty as to winning. That is the way I box, not like one that punches the air. But I keep on beating and bruising my body and making it my slave, so that I, after I have summoned others to the race, may not myself become unfit to run.

They did not do as I expected but even more; they first by God's will gave themselves to the Lord, and then to me;

I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live, but Christ is living in me; the life I now live as a mortal man I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I mean this: Practice living by the Spirit and then by no means will you gratify the cravings of your lower nature.

for you have died, and your life is now hidden in God through your fellowship with Christ.

So if a man will cleanse himself from these things, he will be an instrument for honorable uses, consecrated, useful for the Master, and ready for any good service.

training us to give up godless ways and worldly cravings and live serious, upright, and godly lives in this world, while we are waiting for the realization of our blessed hope at the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus,

So then, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will fly from you.

so that he no longer can spend the rest of his earthly life in harmony with human desires but in accordance with God's will.

Stop looking after your own interests only but practice looking out for the interests of others too.

The right thing to do is not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything else, that makes your brother stumble.

It is the duty of us who are strong to bear with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not merely to please ourselves.

So then, if food can make my brother fall, I will never, no, never, eat meat again, in order to keep my brother from falling.

So once for all put to death your lower, earthly nature with respect to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is real idolatry.

No soldier ever allows himself to be involved in the business affairs of life, so that he may please the officer who enlisted him.

No one should always be looking after his own welfare, but also that of his neighbor.

He must grow greater and greater, but I less and less."