Oneofhis’ Weblog

I have heard a lot of good teaching about this topic. I want to throw my angle on this topic. I have heard teaching saying that in order to die to oneself you have to give up everything you want to do, go find a cabin in the woods, and commune with God for the rest of your life. It is made out to have to be the most painful processes that we ever have to go through and it is the greatest sacrifice of a person for God. I would have to agree to a degree that it is not always easy or I think the word is more like “inconvenient” to do what God wants you do. It is inconvenient to get up a little early on Sunday to greet. It’s not convenient to have to “sacrifice” some of our tv time to read the Bible. It is not always convenient to call our brother or sister that you have felt like you are supposed to call. Doing these things does take putting your desires on the back burner and God is pleased by your obedience.

I want to talk about a slightly different death. I think death is not even a proper word for it. I will call it for lack of better term “life swapping”. You might say “huh?” but what I am talking about is not even a death as we think of it. It is a trading of life. A swap. You trade your desires that were totally focused on self and doing everything for yourself, and you take on a new desire that is not focused on “me” and what “I” can get. It is not about me anymore and you know what? It’s a sweet exchange! Do you really think that Mother Theresa was miserable helping the homeless children in India? It was her passion! It consumed what she did! She was raised in a life of decadence and most anything she wanted. She traded that life of self-centeredness and chose a life of service! It became her consuming passion and God honored her throughout the world for what she did for those children! This is an exchange of one life for another! A life swap! I’m not telling you to quit your job and move to India, what I am telling you is that if your heart is to love the One who laid His life down for you, you will begin to take on His personality and passions. You won’t even be conscious of it. It will become your nature. It will be as effortless as breathing. You won’t even realize that it took place!

Don’t try so hard to be perfect. Don’t strive to do it in your own strength. Seek the One who brings the change, listen when He calls you, and obey when He directs and you will understand what it means to die to yourself.

I Cor 15:22 For ^(AG)as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.