“If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake day after day and follow me continually.

Luke 9:23-25.

⁵ Jesus was here describing a course of self-sacrifice. And he took the lead in demonstrating what this meant. He said: “I seek, not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 5:30) Thus, the reason Jesus undertook a course of self-sacrifice was so that he could fully accomplish the will of his heavenly Father, Jehovah. That course is the one Jesus recommended to his followers. He said that they should be willing to “disown” themselves, meaning that they should subdue their own personal desires and make the doing of God’s will the main thing in their lives.