When Jesus told us to deny ourselves and take up our cross, he wasn’t talking about chocolate or sweets. And what is the cross Jesus mentioned? Is it sickness or pain or trouble? Even non-Christians experience those things, and they are imposed on us. We don’t take them up. No, our cross is to deny the bitterness, the anger, the doubt, the fear that sickness or pain or trouble causes. To deny ourselves is to say “no” to the sinful nature.