Deny self & Taking up the cross (D&T)

Luke 9 : 23 - 24

Then he(Jesus) said to them all: " If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."

Recently i have been thinking about "denying oneself" What is it actually? I had always thought that denying oneself is giving up your life for Christ and going the way He has planned for you.

But am i really denying myself and taking up my cross daily? Well, i guess in some areas of my life i have not been doing so, i have alot to do.

So what is it to give up your life and going the way He planned it for you? Well, surely we could just take a bullet for Christ, block a mob of people with machetes to save the lives of others. I guess that would be much easier than denying yourself. Though it may still be giving your life up for Jesus in a sense. But wouldn't your life be more useful to God when your still alive able to serve Him on earth? I always thought, how great it would be to be martyr, to be able to give your life for the glory of God(i sound like a terrorist). But now i realised, if i choose to die quick, end it all and call it my service to God; i am but a coward who wants to escape this world of sin.

To give your life up to Christ is to live your life in Christ for Him to use you for His glory. It is not easy, but God promises to help us.