To Die To Live

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matthew 16:25

We had a really interesting discussion this past Sunday about the concept of this verse with our small group. We talked about how Jesus had died for us, for our sins so that we might spend eternity in heaven with our God. And how if Jesus could do that for us, the least we could do is let ourselves die so that we could be closer to God. And just what did we mean by that? Well, this is different for each person. To die to ourself is to give up the thing or things that keep us from drawing closer to God. For some people, that may be alcohol or drugs. For some people that could be television or the internet. For others still, it could be reading the wrong kind of book, playing the wrong games, or talking to the wrong people. Each person is different, and each person has their own "thing" that gets in their way from drawing closer to God.

Giving up our life, our self, to God is such a large thought to me. Giving up the things that maybe even contribute to part of who I am in order to draw closer to God could be such a tall order- and a difficult one at that. But what does one do when one of the things standing between you and closeness with God is actual people. What do you do when you know what God is asking of you, and there is a person in the way. Perhaps they're doing what you are supposed to be doing...how do you get up the courage to potentially cause hurt to someone else? That can't be right...can it?

That's where we talked about spending more time with God in the first place. Only by taking that time to read the Bible and talk to God in prayer do we learn to recognize His Voice. When we think God is pointing us in a particular direction, is it really Him talking to us? Or is that our selfish self again trying so hard to find what we are meant to do?

This verse today says so much in just one little line. By spending more and more time with God, one on one, we become more willing to give up our selves for Him. And by being willing to give up ourselves, we draw even closer to Him. And eventually, His Voice will be loud and clear, and we will know what He wants us to do.