Dying to Self

This is something that is always thrown around when we talk about living the Christian life. But what does it really mean? How do we do it? Here is what the Bible says about dying to self in John, taught be Jesus Himself:

He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. – John 12:25

So if we love our life here in the world, we can never live the Christian life. Let me put it another way: Anything we put ahead of our relationship with Christ is loving our life instead of Him. This makes it pretty cut and dry in my eyes. But Jesus goes on. We are to hate our lives in this world. In the Bible, when Jesus teaches of hate, He is saying that compared to our love for Him, our love for other things should look like we hate that thing. That’s not only our sin, but we are to hate anything that gets in the way of knowing Christ more. What is that for you? What is in your life, good or bad, that is keeping you from praying, reading scripture, building relationships with other Christians, serving your church and Christ?

Jesus is very clear here. In order to love Him, and have an eternal relationship with Him, we must die to ourselves and hate the things that get in the way of making Him THE priority in everything. He will provide the joy, peace and love we will need from here on, if only we will be faithful to our love for Him.

Tags: Book of John, Teaching