DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Dying to Live
by Mary McGinnis
What did Jesus mean when He said I must deny
myself and take up my cross and follow Him?
I find myself feeling like the Pharisee
who asked, “Who is my neighbor?” when Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” I want to ask, “But Jesus,
what does denying myself really mean? What does taking up my cross entail? You don’t REALLY mean I need to give up everything I love and be a martyr,
do You?”
Then the words, “and follow Me,” shouted
out to me. What did Jesus do? He left His seat on the throne of Heaven in
all its majesty. And for what? To be born in a feeding trough in a smelly stable
among the animals and the poor. He
walked our sod, felt our pain, experienced all our humanness. And He did all of this even though He knew it
meant betrayal, abandonment, suffering, and a certain death of the most shaming,
cruel, and gruesome kind imaginable.
And why did He do this? His love for His Father, and His desire to be
obedient to Him first and foremost. And deeply
woven into the fabric of His desire to do the Father’s will was His lavish love
for US!! He first had to die to be
resurrected. He was willing to die so
that WE CAN LIVE too!!
Jesus goes on to say that the more we try
to pursue our own agenda, chase after finding what satisfies our selfish hearts,
what makes us feel alive, what puts breath into our soul, the more we will be
destroyed. It is a dead end!
He basically says, “If you are dying to live,
you must live to die.”
You see, Jesus also wants to bring us the
life that is TRUE life. He is now seated
again in glory at the righthand of the Father. The resurrected Jesus lives in the kingly
majesty which belongs to Him as supreme ruler, the majesty of His absolute
perfection. And He offers us this life
of absolute perfection, being wash clean by His blood.
“Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the
others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus.” Philippians 2:3-5
Forgive me Lord when I selfishly look to
my own interests. Fill me with the power
of Your Holy Spirit, Your breath of life.
Only then will I be able to die to myself and be raised to living the
resurrected life!
Prayer
Practice
Lectio – Read today’s passage
through once. Then spend some time praying and asking God to show you what you
need to pay attention to in the text. Read it again. Now ask God to help you
see what this text, and the part that has stood out, may mean for you. Don’t
expect to get a clear word every time but always be ready to really hear from
God through His Word.
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