In the new testament we often hear that, as Christians, we should ‘die to ourselves’ or ‘die to our flesh’ in one form or another. Below are a few references in case you haven’t noticed:
The call to discipleship – Luke 9:23-24
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”
Out of death comes life – John 12:24-25
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Called to live by the Spirit – Romans 8-13
For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Off the with old and on with the new – Ephesians 4:22-24
that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Our life hidden in Christ – Colossians 3:3
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
So why do I think this could be easy? Well, the more I search the scriptures the more I realise that we are being asked to give up something that was never ours, something we were never intended to be, and something that (if we thought about it) we wouldn’t want anyway. Not only that but we are inspired to give this up by a very incredible and personal love. Let’s take a closer look.
Something that was never ours – He is the potter and we are the clay. Should the Creator have rights to His creation? Despite this clear distinction, God has given us a free will because He wants us to choose to love Him. He desires an intimate relationship with us and even though we can choose to hold on to our life, it is not really ours in the first place.
Something we were never intended to be – Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall, is what God created and who He intended us to be. Read Genesis 1:26-27 and look at how much emphasis He puts on creating man in His image, in His likeness. They walked and talked with Him in direct relationship seeking only after Him and not living for themselves. It was a lie that we believed that stole that identity away from us and we became self-seeking and no longer who we were intended to be. The God of restoration has paid the ultimate price and made a way to restore us to this lost identity – the sonship, He always intended us to have. God is now asking us to give up the fallen life, the lie, and no longer live for ourselves.
Something that we wouldn’t want anyway – If you read further in the Colossians scripture (3:1-17) you will see the attributes of the flesh we are to ‘die to’ or ‘put off’ (verses 5-9). Verse 10 reinforces the identity and intended image we are to be renewed to; then verses 11-17 show us the alternative to being a 5-9 person. When put this way I don’t think anyone would fight to remain a Col 3:5-9 person.
Now, particularly if you read the Ephesian and Colossians scriptures, you would know that completely surrendering our lives is not something we are asked to do in our own strength. The scripture makes it clear that walking in this surrender is by a renewing of our mind and hearts. We do this by reading the scriptures and allowing grace through faith change the way we think – we choose to trust in the love, mercy, goodness and sovereignty of Father and begin again to walk in an intimate relationship with Him.
I also mentioned that we are inspired to surrender by an incredible and personal love. This is a big and exciting topic, so today we will just scratch the surface…..
A tree native to Australia is the Eucalypt. Eucalyptus tree seeds are approx. 1mm in length but the life hidden inside the dead exterior is capable of growing to 114,000 times this size in height (a 114 meter (374 foot) high tree). I wonder what your full potential is if you choose to ‘deny yourself’ and allow the grace of God to transform you? I know Jesus thought it was worth everything He had. His love never fails.
~C
