Do You Ever Hate Yourself?

Do you ever do something stupid that just makes you hate yourself? If you have read my book, you know that I struggled with poor self-esteem to the point of hating myself. But I am quite sure that is NOT what Jesus meant when He said: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).

This has got to be one of the least understood of all of Jesus' teachings. But to “hate” yourself is just another (perhaps stronger) way of saying that a disciple will have to "deny himself" if he is to be like Jesus. Denying our self, then, is the same as hating our own life. But what is it we are to hate? We must hate the life that we have inherited from Adam—our life IN Adam. We have to hate that life IN Adam before we will truly love our life IN Christ.

While the power of Adamic life was destroyed at the Cross (Romans 6:6), the residual self-life, we call “flesh,” remains. And it is ‘un-crucified flesh’ that keeps us from experiencing our life IN Christ. Unless we hate this ‘self life,’ we will never be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

To hate our own life is to give up seeking our own rights and privileges, to stop seeking our own reputation, to forsake our own ambitions and interests, and to stop seeking our own way, in a word, surrendering our “will.” There is no other way to gain the abundant life that we have IN Christ.