I am learning how to die. I’ve tried to die, and I do pretty well for awhile, but then I quit the dying process and believe I should live. Not only do I think I should live, but I think that I deserve to live. After all, I am a pretty good person……right?
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3:2-3
Dying starts in the mind. When I set my mind on the things of this world, that is when I start to want the things of this world. But, that is not what we are called to do. We are to shun the world and live to bring glory to the Father. That is what Jesus did. He asked if there was any way other than the cross. He knew there wasn’t. Jesus died a painful, humiliating death so people like me can have eternal glory. He had to die to His own life before He could die for mine. What Would Jesus Do? I don’t know, but I know what He did.
Peter told Jesus that he would never leave Him. He vowed that he would not deny Jesus, would even die with Him before denying Him. It didn’t take long before Peter did that very thing. Peter had to learn how to die.
Paul was a Jew among Jews. He was an up and coming star. But it wasn’t until he lost his sight that he realized how blind he really was. Then he had to begin a whole new life. Paul had to learn how to die.
The tax collector, the fisherman, the doctor and the demon possessed woman; they all had to learn how to die. The woman at the well had to learn her life was worth dying for and then she had to die. I hope I see her in Heaven, I have a lot of questions.
Mary and Joseph had to endure the shame of whispered accusations when Jesus was born and the inconceivable pain of watching Him on the cross. They had to die in order that He might live as a man.
Dying does not come naturally. In the physical world, we fight against it. We don’t want our physical bodies to end too soon. Spiritual death is even more difficult. Our self centered psyche fights against it and Satan encourages us to live for our own desires. Spiritual death may be hard, but the reward is a fullness and wonder to life that cannot be equaled. God will help me die, I just have to be willing.
