Tag: die to self

Who are you?

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.  But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. –Colossians 3:5-11

Its easy to excuse away our behavior by saying ‘that’s just the way I am.’

But if we are are made new in Jesus, then we are not who we used to be. We are like him.

By saying ‘that’s just the way I am’ we are resurrecting our old self and saying that Jesus in us, is not enough to kill off our old selves.

Jesus makes us new when we invite him into our lives. He gives us new life a new identity.

When we die to self, we are spiritually no longer that person and are given new life in Jesus and that new life is for him to live through us.

So when we find our selves reverting back to our old ways and our old habits we don’t need to try to change, we need to realize that, that is not us anymore.

That’s why knowing Jesus is so important, because the more we know him the more we know our new selves, its how we find our identity in him.

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. –2 Corinthians 5:17

Find Freedom

Rehearsing our mistakes over and over again in our head allows guilt and shame to have control over us. Even rehearsing the wrong doings of others against us gives them power over us. When we allow these things to dictate our decisions we give them control over us.

But when we surrender them over to Jesus and accept His forgiveness for us and for them, we find freedom.

When we die to ourselves and allow God to live through us. His love and his grave cover our mistakes so that we can be free of guilt and shame, because we are dead and the dead can’t be offended, guilty or ashamed.

Instead we can rejoice in the freedom, joy and peace of God’s grace.

Surrender over to God whatever is holding you back, whatever stops you from being who God made you to be.

Free and forgiven.

What is dying to self?

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3;10-11

You may have heard some preachers or myself say to die to self. But what does that mean.

Dying to self, is just that dying to self. It’s putting to death your selfish desires, wants and even needs and putting others before yourself.

Sound crazy right, but that is what Jesus did in his life and death. He came to serve not be severed. He paid the price of his own life so that we could have his life in exchange for ours.

When we surrender our lives to Jesus and let him live through us. He provides for all our needs and fulfills many of our desires beyond our wildest dreams.

You may think, I still need to live, to eat, to breathe, to sleep. So don’t I have to be selfish at someone point. No, because when we following the leading of the Holy Spirit he takes care of those needs. I have never regretted putting someone before myself, but I have regretted not putting someone else first.

Marriage is a example of how our relationship with Jesus is supposed to be. We are supposed to put our spouses needs before ourselves. They are supposed to do the same, which brings balance. I can’t tell you how many times I have been doing something for my husband and he surprises me by taking care of the other things I needed to do after I took care of him.

It’s the same with Jesus. When he asks us to do something for someone else he already has something in the works to take care of us.

So dying to self is simple putting God first and trusting him to take care of all that he has promised us.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a?

 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34