Galatians 2:20; I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Dying to self is a concept the Lord brings me back to again and again. I’ve thought a lot about what it means, questioning how one dies to self in this lifetime. I have several ideas from the Bible; I’m still working on the practical application!
Dying to self is a concept the Lord brings me back to again and again. I’ve thought a lot about what it means, questioning how one dies to self in this lifetime. I have several ideas from the Bible; I’m still working on the practical application!
One of those ideas has to do with humility, admitting our neediness. Human nature—especially in our culture, I think—tends toward self-reliance. To say, “I need you, Lord,” is to admit weakness. If “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10) means our strength is in God and we’re not willing to admit or acknowledge any weakness, then we’re not giving Him the chance to be strong in us. Obviously, we can’t grow strong in the Lord as long as we insist on holding onto and operating in our own strength.
I know I need to depend on the Lord’s guidance and help for everything, yet it’s amazing how often I set out to do things in my own strength, I struggle or have problems, and then I say, “Oh! I know! I should pray about this!”
“Self” is a stubborn, obstinate beast that clings tenaciously to us, fighting to stay alive; but the truth is that until we put self to death and make Jesus the Lord of every area of our lives, we’ll never fully know what it means to be “alive in Him.”
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