Writing My Epitaph
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16: 24-26
Inside each Christian, there are two factions, warring for control. The physical carnal self, and the new creation - the purified soul cleansed by the blood of Christ. Each one is capable of taking control of our actions and thoughts. We have that choice. We have the ability each day to wake up and begin our day by making the decision to take up our cross and crucify our natural desires and sinful impulses. Yes, we become a new person in that moment of our salvation. Yes, our ‘want to’ changes. But, we are not perfected. We still have to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us through the act of sanctification to become more and more Christ-like.
He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
John the Baptist had it right. He was sent here to do a particular work, to be the forerunner for Christ, but His main objective was to point others to Him, not to become anything on his own. He knew that to do that, Christ had to increase, while he decreased. What does that look like in our own lives? As we grow in our faith, as we continue to reach and strive to become ever more Christ-like. That usually means working to identify the areas that we need growth, through the help of the Holy Spirit, and allowing His leading in our lives to help us overcome our natural man and let the new man shine through.
I think the thing we miss… at least the thing I missed for so long about our relationship with Christ is that its depth is unfathomable. Salvation is excellent and something that every single person should work out with fear and trembling. But, my friends… it’s just the beginning of a whole new life. With our salvation, we pass from death into life, and come alive. With Salvation, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who makes an incredible difference in our life, if we allow him.
Allowing Him to be active and real in our life is the hard thing. It’s more than showing up for church. It’s more than taking a position in the church and serving. It’s giving Him utter and complete control of our whole lives… our spiritual lives, obviously, but so much more than that. We are to give over every single aspect of our lives to Him.
Our soul: We have given our soul to Him, if we’re saved. The process of sanctification is the continued growth of our spiritual lives which leads to surrendering the remainder of ourselves to Him and becoming more and more Christ-like, although the process will not be complete until Christ returns and we receive our glorified body.
Our time: God and service to Him is to take priority over everything - makes skipping church to watch a television show sound petty, doesn’t it? But, I’ve done it. I’m so much happier to be where I am now, and I still have tons and tons of work to do!
Our minds: Our worldview needs to be transformed. We need to look at everything through a biblical lens. What we let our eyes see, what we let our ears hear, everything that we think on affects in far deeper ways than we can understand.
Our bodies: What we put into our body (I struggle with food choices - but, this obviously applies to illicit substances and alcohol), how we use our bodies. All of that should be surrendered to God first and foremost, and we should strive to live as holy a life as possible.
Our finances: This one always hits a nerve, but if we’re honest, we would have nothing without Him. Without the strength, intelligence, and life, He’s given us. It’s all His anyway.
All of this surrender isn’t easy. We all have a deep desire to ‘control’. For me, I pray every morning and re-surrender some of those things, that I tend to try and ‘take back’. By asking for the Holy Spirit to continually convict me when I stray from God’s perfect will, I hope to avoid backsliding again as I did. Every day, I write my epitaph. Dying to self is a daily chore, but one that can bring the most incredible blessings.
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:15
