The concept of dying-to-self is not a very popular one. Some of us had parents that did their very best for us, but we still did without things we thought that we really, really needed. Other parents were abusive, demeaning, rarely encouraging, and ridiculing. Many of us suffered abuse in childhood, which still affects our adult life now.
My little Mommy did her best to make our childhood the best she could, even at the expense of her own needs. I learned codependent behavior from her, and I mirrored it in my own natural family. Of course, two of my three children are grateful for my contribution in their life, but one was and still is offensive, ungrateful, and unaccepting.
There is a strictly fine line between “death to self” and neglecting our self. After my salvation, God showed me that codependence is a demonic distraction from our following God’s will for our life. We allow our human heart to dictate our thoughts, emotions. and behavior. This causes us to miss God’s best for us through His abundant life.
The simple definition of “death to self” is to lay aside our will and to fully reject personal goals, desires, addictions, all our human resources and talents, and our innate need for control. Instead, we rest in God. We obey His Spirit as our reliance on our self-life dies a little more each day (Matthew 11:28, 16:24).
It is only as we totally surrender to God’s plans for us that we can die to our self-life. We learn to trust Him with our whole heart and to surrender our entire life to His direction. Following the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit automatically vanquishes our reliance on our self-life, and it frees us to live a Spirit-controlled life.
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for sending Jesus to pay the penalty on Calvary’s cross for all our sins: past, current, and future. Strengthen our inner being to accept His sacrifice on our behalf with humility and to submit to You (Proverbs 3:5-6). This gives You the opportunity to live Your life in and through us each moment of our day.
All that we are and all that we have comes from You, and we submit it all to You. Nothing we have on this earth, except what comes from You, is worth embracing. Everything else is finite at best and eventually unsatisfying. As we surrender our life to You, You provide us with a victorious, fulfilled, and abundant life (Luke 18:27). We can never thank You enough for caring about every detail of our life.
Thoughts for the Day:
When we live a surrendered life to God, we identify with the crucifixion of Jesus, and realize that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in and through us. Jesus bought us with His blood and keeps us with His love. This gives us the courage to follow after Him, to deny our human resources daily, and to adhere to His will for our life.
- Galatians 2:20; Luke 9:23; Galatians 5:24
