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After reading my post title, you might be ready to stone me or label me a heretic.
Or … maybe not, depending on your perspective.
The phrases “die to self” and “die to sin” caused me a lot of confusion and unrest in my walk with Christ—until I began to understand what He accomplished through His finished work on the Cross!
This was the thought process that kept going through my mind every time I heard (or read) that Christians need to “die to self” daily:
“If I am a brand new creation in Christ, then why do I have to die to self? If my new self is pure, righteous, and holy—complete in Christ—then why do I have to die to it?”
“Does.Not.Compute.”
“Die to sin … hmmm …that must mean that I need to stop sinning, which makes total sense for someone who is united with Christ. Sin simply doesn’t fit a saint. Righteousness does.”
“But wait. Romans 6:11 says that I’m already dead to sin and alive to God. How can I die to something I’m already dead to?”
“Does.Not.Compute.”
If you too have struggled with these often used phrases heard in Christian circles, please take a few minutes and let the Spirit of Christ in your new heart minister truth to you.
“My lovely bride, it is vitally important that you understand who you are and what you want.”
“Your new heart’s desires are in holy harmony with My heart’s desires.”
“You do not want to sin!”
“If you believe the subtle, destructive lie from the enemy that you want the opposite of what I want, you will live in confusion.”
“And I am not the author of confusion.”
“Sometimes it takes a while for believers to be convinced of this foundational truth.”
“But most, after peeling away layers of deeply rooted flesh patterns and meditating on the truth of their new identities, end up experiencing the liberating revelation that they don’t want to sin.”
“At all.”
“I am not suggesting that you will no longer be influenced to sin now that you live in union with Me.”
“What I am saying is that when you do sin, it brings nothing but misery because you aren’t walking in truth.”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you will prove your true identity either by sinning and being miserable or by happily expressing your true nature through dependence on My indwelling Spirit.”
“A major misunderstanding has evolved from the biblical phrase die to sin.”
“The phrase I’m speaking of is die to self.”
“Although you will not find this phrase in the original Greek text, its use in Christendom is epidemic.”
“On the surface, the phrase may seem harmless.”
“But for a new creation in Christ, it presents a whopping problem.”
“It causes the believer to falsely conclude, If I’m supposed to die to self, then I must be a bad person.”
“You can only imagine how much confusion this false self-perception brings to a pure, righteous, and holy creation in Me!”
“I bore your sins in My body on the cross so that, when you believed into Me, you would die to sin and live to righteousness.”
“This means that, at salvation, you were instantly separated from sin’s controlling power and forever joined to My righteousness.”
“So let this matter be settled in your mind once and for all: you don’t have to die to self or sin.”
“Live Me instead.”
Inspired by Ezekiel 36:25–27; 1 Corinthians 3:16–17; 6:17; Jeremiah 31:33; Philippians 2:13; Galatians 5:17; Hebrews 8:10; John 8:44; 1 Corinthians 14:33; John 6:63; Romans 13:14; 2 Corinthians 5:16–17; Romans 12:2; 2 John 1:4; 3 John 1:3; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10; 1 Peter 2:24; Hebrews 10:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 3:12; Ephesians 4:23; Philippians 1:21.
Today’s post is an excerpt from my book, Fifty Days in His Pursuing Love Devotional: Getting to Know the One Who Loved You First and Loves You Most.
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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to check out all of my books and my video series based on my first devotional.
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