The Word of God teaches us that in order to be disciples of Christ we need to deny ourselves (die) (Matt 16:24, Mar 834, Luc 9:23). To understand this, we first need to understand what "ourselves" means. Jesus spoke to his disciples repeatedly about taking up his cross (an instrument of death) and following it. He made it clear that if someone was going to follow him, he had to deny himself, which meant giving up his life, spiritually, symbolically, and even physically, if necessary. This was a prerequisite for being a follower of Christ, who proclaimed that trying to save our earthly life would result in losing our life in the kingdom.