Dying Daily

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must make the daily decision to pick up our cross and follow Him. Put another way, we are called to give ourselves to God as a "living sacrifice". We see this word picture used by the Apostle Paul to help the Christians at Rome better understand this concept of dying daily.

(Romans 12:1-2 NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

So, how do we truly present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice? In a nutshell, we must be willing to die daily to our desires and expectations. We must put the call of God and the mandate of the gospel above our own. This concept is wonderfully presented in this anonymous poem…

When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;

That is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patiently, lovingly silently;

That is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;

That is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;

That is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;

That is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;

That is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof and can humbly submit, inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;

That is dying to self.

Now before you just throw in the towel and go - "well I'm a big failure at this dying daily thing". catch the outcome of getting this concept down, of allowing God to transform the way we think.

The great reward of dying daily to ourselves, of willingly becoming a living sacrifice is seen in the last part of Romans 12:2

Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

In the end, the person who willingly offers his/her life as a living sacrifice is really the one who finds the joy and peace that is associated with living in and doing the perfect will of God.

Now let me throw this in before I close. Many people do right things for God. Some people even do sacrificial things for God. And a few may even act or look foolishly in an effort to please God. But it's not simply doing right or sacrificial or fanatical things that prove we are accomplishing the goal of becoming "living sacrifices". The result that God is trying to produce in us by asking us to "die daily" or offer our lives as a "living sacrifice" will show up in our heart. A genuine "want to" will spring up inside of us. No longer will we do things because we have to, instead we'll do them because we want to.

Is your "dying daily" decision producing the want to in you? Is your offering yourself as a "living sacrifice" producing a clear knowledge of Gods will and how good and perfect it really is in your heart?

If not, don't despair. Find someone you trust in spiritual matters and tell them about your desire to understand more about becoming a "living sacrifice". And continue to pray for the clarity that comes from living in the perfect will of God, of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.