I fear we have concocted a “dying to self” that is something that occurs only in the sterile ivory palace of our pietistic devotion to the Lord. This is more than a “spiritual” dying. It is not one that can be separated from the daily events of our lives. These mortifications come to us in the circumstances, difficult situations and hard choices of our day. It may be giving up what I don’t want to give up and embracing the painful. It is rejecting the low road to walk the high road. Though it is daily and nitty-gritty, it is a losing of life that finds a better richer one.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Luke 9:23-24 (NASB)
