Dying to self! What is it? Is it compromising to get something from someone? Like the Politicians of our day or maybe a friend will only do something if you will do something for him! Christ was the ultimate example of dying to self As he prayed in the Garden in Luke 26:42 “…If thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but Thine, be done.” After Christ demonstrated him dying to his own will He carried out God’s will and He went to the cross to face the brutal physical torment and ultimately death as payment for mankind’s sins.
As Christians we are called to live apart from this world, As fallen sinners we cannot live up to the standard God has set and therefore we must live within Christ, and the Christian walk is a constant dying to self in our daily lives.
Today’s society is a world where people will use you, they will lie about you in order to get what they themselves want and sadly there are many Christians who manipulate and act like the world, but as a Christian I am called to forgive those that persecute me, do good to them who wrongfully use me! Only through Christ can we do this, ever been cut off on the highway by a mindless selfish person who does not care about your time or safety? What was your reaction? Have you had someone lie about you? Physically hurt you? I am guilty of not having a Christian response more times than I would like to admit. I recently took my brothers vehicle to an outing with some friends and I promised him that I would put gasoline into the car so he would not have to worry about it the next day! Well I was exhausted coming back home and I wrestled with that promise and there was the temptation to just use the excuse “I forgot about it!” Or “I was tired!” There was a fight of dying to self right there I am ashamed to admit!
I believe that one of the main reasons our churches are failing and full of empty shells and not influential in our society is the lack of dying to self. Everyone wants to run things their way, our families are broken because of the stubborn will of the ones who are of the “I am RIGHT and they are WRONG” mentality. Where would we be if we all examined ourselves and the motivations that cause us to treat others the way we do, the way we worship, the way we fulfill out duties at work, the way we treat our parents, brothers, sisters or complete strangers? Why do we do the things we do? Is it to gain from others and to use them? Abraham died to himself in offering up Isaac his son in obedience to God. We can find many people in the Bible that were the opposite, King Saul did not die to His pride and self and became bitter and envious of David. We see the Rich young ruler who asked Christ what must he do to be saved and Christ said “…Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” The story does not tell us what the young ruler did other than he was sorrowful.
Romans states “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” in verse 11 it says “…Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” We are all sinners by nature but the teachings are clear that we are to die to self and we can do it but only through and by the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord. The next time you are tempted to lust, to curse, to steal, to lie remember that you are a new creature created in Christ and you have the power through Christ and sin does not have dominion over you but you must die to the desire of that sin and the pleasures it has to offer for a season.
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
