54 Bible Verses about Self Denial

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Dear friends, I urge [you] as foreigners and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against your soul,

[If] you find honey, eat what is sufficient for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it out.

Now {Daniel resolved} that he would not defile himself with the fine food of the king, and with {the wine that he drank}, and [so] he requested from the commander of the court officials [permission so] that he would not defile himself.

choosing instead to be mistreated with the people of God [rather] than to experience the transitory enjoyment of sin,

But they answered, "We will not drink wine, for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, commanded us, {saying}, 'You shall not drink wine, you or your children, {forever}.

I had not eaten [any] choice food, and meat and wine did not enter my mouth, and {I did not use any ointment} {until the end of three whole weeks}.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he must never drink wine or beer, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit [while he is] still in his mother's womb.

For John the Baptist has come not eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon!'

And summoning the crowd together with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

And he said to [them] all, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

Then Paul replied, "What are you doing weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus!"

But whatever [things] were gain to me, these [things] I have considered loss because of Christ.

And if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw [it] from you! For it is better for you that one of your members be destroyed than your whole body be thrown into hell.

May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as [it is] in heaven.

And [as] Jesus was going away from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth and said to him, "Follow me!" And he stood up [and] followed him.

And he went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he began to teach them. And [as he] was passing by, he saw Levi the [son] of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me!" And he stood up [and] followed him.

And after these [things], he went out and saw a tax collector {named} Levi sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me!" And leaving everything behind, he got up [and] began to follow him.

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better [for] you to enter into life crippled than, having two hands, to go into hell--into the unquenchable fire!

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give [the proceeds] to the poor--and you will have treasure in heaven--and come, follow me."

Then Peter answered [and] said to him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us?"

Peter began to say to him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed you."

And Peter said, "Behold, we have left {all that is ours} [and] followed you."

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields on account of my name will receive a hundred times as much, and will inherit eternal life.

Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields on account of me and on account of the gospel {who will not} receive a hundred times as much now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, together with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life.

And [after they] brought [their] boats to the land, they left everything [and] followed him.

In the [same] way, therefore, every [one] of you who does not renounce all his own possessions {cannot be} my disciple.

"But take care for yourselves, lest your hearts are weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of daily life, and that day come upon you suddenly

But I consider [my] life [as] worth {nothing} to myself, in order to finish my mission and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify [to] the gospel of the grace of God.

May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies [as] a living sacrifice, holy [and] pleasing to God, [which is] your reasonable service.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not make provision for the desires of the flesh.

All [things] are permitted for me, but not all [things] are profitable. All [things] are permitted for me, but I will not be controlled by anything.

And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all [things]. Thus those [do so] in order that they may receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable [one]. Therefore I run in this way, not as [running] aimlessly; I box in this way, not as beating the air. But I discipline my body and subjugate [it], lest somehow [after] preaching to others, myself should become disqualified.

and not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and [then] to us, by the will of God.

and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and that [life] I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

But I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never carry out the desire of the flesh.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Therefore, if someone cleanses himself from these [things], he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

training us in order that, denying impiety and worldly desires, we may live self-controlled and righteously and godly in the present age, looking forward to the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Therefore subject yourselves to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for the will of God.

And Boaz answered and said to her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband was fully told to me. [How] you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and you went to a people that you did not know {before}.

each of you not looking out for {your own interests}, but also each of you [for] {the interests} of others.

And now if you will forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me from your scroll that you have written."

[It is] good not to eat meat or to drink wine or [to do anything] by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is weakened.

But we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat {forever}, in order that I may not cause my brother to sin.

Therefore put to death {what is earthly in you}: sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustful passion, evil desire, and greediness, which is idolatry,

No one who serves as a soldier is entangled in the activities of [everyday] life, so that he may please the one who enlisted [him].

Let no one seek {his own good} but the [good] of the other.

It is necessary for that one to increase, but [for] me to decrease."