Have you died today? Obviously I'm not talking about your physical death, since that is a rather terminal condition. But, if you are a Christian, the Bible says that you should be dying daily.
This death is the death of my flesh, the old nature within me that desires to do that which is contrary to God's will. It is once we have died to ourselves that we can truely experience the life that Christ promises to all Christians. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 6:11, Romans 8:13, II Corinthians 4:10-12, and Philippians 3:10-11. But how to accomplish this dying?
We know that our old sinful nature has been conquered through Christ's death, but we often still seek to please it or satisfy it. We must daily put it to death, that pride or self-righteousness or anger etc. I was reading the book "Authentic Christianity" by Ray Stedman this week, and in it, he ties the concept of dying to self and living in Christ to the ideas of repentance and believing. In repenting we are agreeing with God about the true nature of ourselves, and that our old nature is of no value any longer. In believing we are looking to Christ for the power to live, and placing our value in his life.
As I was thinking about what I read in "Authentic Christianity" and Philippians 3:10-11 this week, God showed me the connection between dying to myself, righteousness, and trusting in Him. Even though He sees me as righteous in Christ, as I die to myself and am living in Christ my life starts to resemble the righteous life of Christ. And unless I die to myself, I cannot be trusting in God. Since my old nature is of no value, when I acknowledge that, and it must be done daily if not hourly, the only thing left for me to do is trust in God. As I make those decisions to trust God, I begin to live as Christ did, since his life was marked by trust in God.
