“Christian discipleship may be summed up in one phrase: “dying daily.”” This is not what most people, including myself, are expecting from the Gospel. Yet, each day, the Gospel invites us to lay self down in order to choose Christ.
Honestly, I don’t do real well at this part.
My friends at World Harvest Mission are good at helping to rehearse what the Gospel means, and particularly what it means to lay self down: “Faith is a kind of dying, because it means we must choose to believe things that are contrary to what we naturally think. Repentance is dying, for it requires giving up our cherished desires. Love means dying, for it means giving up our lives for the sake of others.”
“Giving up our lives for others” works itself out in our lives as we choose to move towards others in love when they are judging, accusing or criticizing us. This can feel like death, but deeper relationship with others in the Gospel cannot take place without this kind of dying to self.
So, here’s the question I probably need to ask myself more: how will dying daily work itself out, practically, in my life? Maybe considering how this worked out in Jesus’ life would be helpful (1 Peter 2.20-24)?
Filed under: Core Values, Gospel |
Thoughts Along The Journey 
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