John 12 | Dying
December 12th, John 12
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
The following is from a John Piper sermon called Dying as a means of loving:
I want you to glory in what it means to be a Christian. You do not become a Christian by working away at all the things you must die to. You become a Christian by a decisive work of God in you and by a decisive surrender to Jesus Christ through which, by faith in him, he becomes your substitute and your Lord. Then comes a lifelong experience of becoming in practice what you are by your position. And that becoming — called sanctification — strengthens your assurance that you are real.
The Way Forward
So, what I am asking myself and you is this:
Is there something God is calling me to die to that I might experience more fully my position in Christ; that I might see Christ more clearly and show him more compellingly?
Am I striving against my very nature as a Christian by trying to keep alive something God sentenced to death when I became a Christian?
Are my weaknesses as a father or a husband or a witness owing to something that needs to die in me — some old habit, some secret sin, some root of pride, some fear of looking silly, some desperate need for approval, some desire for wealth?
Striving to die daily,
Josh.