Matthew 16:24, 25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
John 12:24-26
I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single see. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life win this world will keep it for eternal life.
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Looking at these passages, what does "dying to self" mean? Quickly brainstorm. [Looking for suggestions like "Submitting our whole life to God" and "an on-going process as opposed to something that happens once" (Luke 9:23)] The other side to this question is what doesn't it mean? Does it mean we can't have fun [No]? Does it mean we have to think of ourselves as worthless creatures [No - why? ;-) ]?
We should be striving to get to a point where Paul got to - as mentioned in 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".
By having less of our selfish desires and by allowing Christ to rule in our lives and take the priority. All areas of our life should be submitted to God, from our hopes and dreams, to our finances and relationships.
Consider how much more 'effective Christians' we would be if that were the case - where our whole lives were submitted to Christ. Would it be easier to hear God clearly? Would we be worried or to afraid to respond to a "God prompt" during our day, for example if God said to go and pray with a
specific person on our bus? Would we be embarrassed?
It can be easy to slip into placing relationships and friendships ahead of God because they are important to us, but how much more should God be important? Is he second best? I know that sometimes it easy for me to fall in that trap and to place God second - and for me it is an ongoing process of coming to God and submitting that area of my life. What areas do other people fail to consistently submit the lives to God? Opportunity for prayer at this point!
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