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coffeeman777:

“It is a trustworthy statement : For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;” – 2 Timothy 2:11

“Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin ; for he who has died is freed from sin” – Romans 6:4-7

Denying the flesh isn’t always easy. Sometimes it’s inconvenient; sometimes it’s down right painful. As we mature in Christ, some of the more obvious sins become easier to abstain from (although, all it takes for any of us to fall is the right combination of complacency and circumstances; “let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”), but some of the more subtle sins can creep in and snare even the most devout. One may not even think twice about gross sexual immortality, but the right praise from the right lips can set one strutting about like a peacock; pride is often hard to see in yourself. I am tempted towards pride; when I catch myself admiring my own magnificence, I’m immediately made keenly aware of my true state; not a prince, but a clown on whom God has taken pity, a beggar at the gates of Heaven.

And so we Christians endeavor to abstain from all sin all of the time so that we may actually avoid some sin some of the time; orthapraxy as an act of worship, as means to love God. But what if there is another point to it?

Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him. The cross is an instrument of death. The sacrament of baptism is symbolic, identifying us with Christ’s death and resurrection. Paul affirms that if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. Do you suppose that the mild discomfort to abject anguish we feel time and again when we care enough to struggle against sin is identifying with Jesus’ death?