When Jesus wanted to defeat the Enemy and rescue the planet
from the power of death, how did He accomplish this? He died.
“And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even
death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:8)
How are we able to follow Jesus? We die.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
How did Paul minister? He died.
“I die every day—I
mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:31)
How did Paul receive the power of Christ? He embraced his own weakness.
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s
sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
What does all this mean? Let me ask you something – Can you
defeat an opponent who gains power when they die?
The genius of God’s way of fighting and winning (duh) is to
lay down and die so that the love and power of Christ might be revealed through
our weakness.
The lower we get, the greater Jesus becomes.
The more we die, the more Christ lives in us.
The more we get out of His way, the more God can accomplish
through our submission.
Jackie Pullinger once said “The Gospel is always life for
the one who receives it, but death for the one who brings it.” If we are not in
the act of dying daily, then Christ is not alive in us.
What’s your mission? To be like Christ. What did He do? He died.
The Apostles died. You and I are also called to die so that Christ may live
through us.
“I tell you the truth,
unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single
seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will
lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for
eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)
Conversatio Morem! Death
to my status quo.
As John the Baptist declared, “He must increase. I must
decrease.” (John 3:30)
-kg
3 comments:
Great post, Keith! Totally agree.
I'm curious, though. What translation is that for Luke 9:23? I can't find any that say "die" there.
I was going from memory and I suppose it failed me there. The "die" is implied in the bearing of a cross which is an instrument of death.
The actual word is "deny"
Yeah, I agree that dying is certainly implied there.
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