The True Nature of Dying to Self
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16:24-25, NASB)
I've heard this scripture repeated all throughout my childhood, growing up in a private school as well as in church. It's a commonly known quote from Jesus as he was describing the idea of dying-to-self in order to follow Him. As a teenager/young adult, I never really gave too much thought as to what this really meant; now I believe it was because deep down I wasn't willing to give up my way of life. I allowed my own stubborn devotion to my self interests to rob me of an important part of the process of following in Christ's example.
Now that I just turned 31 years old six days ago, I find myself rethinking many of my choices that led me to this dark place in my life, and I can't help but wonder what might have happened had I grasped the knowledge sooner. It's been a recurring habit of mine to wait until things are about to go from bad to worse before actually trying to make a change, and this is no different.
So as I enter this next season of my life I'm trying not to dwell on the what-if's and should-have's as they only serve to perpetuate my depressed state, and instead lay down some sort of plan of action. The biggest part of my success will come from winning the war on the spiritual front by opening my heart to God and His unfailing love and transforming power. Before any of this can occur, self-denial must take place, and not in the way of losing who I am, but rather choosing not to give in to every selfish desire that enters my mind, and consciously giving myself over to God every day in prayer and in reading His Word.
The one thing that still proves to be a seemingly immovable mountain, however, is the fact that I am dealing with an addiction to unhealthy foods, and it's slowly killing me from the inside out. I have all this knowledge about trusting in God's promises and how I must die-to-self daily, but the burning question is how can I win this inner war when I'm battling an addiction as strong as any other?
My ultimate desire is to receive freedom from this struggle, and finally be everything I was meant to be, and find my life in Christ. Here's to taking one step forward at a time into the light.
I've heard this scripture repeated all throughout my childhood, growing up in a private school as well as in church. It's a commonly known quote from Jesus as he was describing the idea of dying-to-self in order to follow Him. As a teenager/young adult, I never really gave too much thought as to what this really meant; now I believe it was because deep down I wasn't willing to give up my way of life. I allowed my own stubborn devotion to my self interests to rob me of an important part of the process of following in Christ's example.
Now that I just turned 31 years old six days ago, I find myself rethinking many of my choices that led me to this dark place in my life, and I can't help but wonder what might have happened had I grasped the knowledge sooner. It's been a recurring habit of mine to wait until things are about to go from bad to worse before actually trying to make a change, and this is no different.
So as I enter this next season of my life I'm trying not to dwell on the what-if's and should-have's as they only serve to perpetuate my depressed state, and instead lay down some sort of plan of action. The biggest part of my success will come from winning the war on the spiritual front by opening my heart to God and His unfailing love and transforming power. Before any of this can occur, self-denial must take place, and not in the way of losing who I am, but rather choosing not to give in to every selfish desire that enters my mind, and consciously giving myself over to God every day in prayer and in reading His Word.
The one thing that still proves to be a seemingly immovable mountain, however, is the fact that I am dealing with an addiction to unhealthy foods, and it's slowly killing me from the inside out. I have all this knowledge about trusting in God's promises and how I must die-to-self daily, but the burning question is how can I win this inner war when I'm battling an addiction as strong as any other?
My ultimate desire is to receive freedom from this struggle, and finally be everything I was meant to be, and find my life in Christ. Here's to taking one step forward at a time into the light.
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