The privilege of dying to self.

There’s such a beautiful place beyond the pain and the confusion we experience on the journey to self’s death. It’s like the rainbow that can only come after the dark and stormy clouds. It’s a place of such joy and freedom! The only proper response when you reach this place is the shedding of sincere tears of gratefulness. It’s overwhelming when you realize that the God of wisdom, a gift so much more precious than the finest pearls; is the God who desires to bestow wisdom on you- a sinful human being. There’s a moment so long awaited by God when we finally open our eyes and start to see things from His glorious perspective. It’s like standing on top of a high mountain that overlooks the most breath-taking of views. It’s when you realize the beauty of His plan. It’s when everything that seemed like a tangled mess starts to make perfect sense. You can only then understand that true happiness and joy are found in letting go of everything that you hold most dear. It truly is in losing yourself into the arms of God that you are finally home. It’s where you really belong. Who would’ve thought that His arms are found by walking the road of pain, loneliness, fear, disillusionment, suffering, and loss? It’s where you would least expect to find Him, yet He is found in brokenness- when tears of humble repentance roll down your cheeks. In those moments, you are able to see how incapable you are on your own and the only natural response is to let things go His way. Here your pride dissolves and it’s no longer about you but about Him. It’s when you stare into the eyes of heaven and touch eternal riches. It’s here that your truly desire to boast in your weaknesses and to praise God for your suffering, even for the things you don’t understand. How could you not praise Him? Those very things have caused you to experience His nearness, His strength. When you were weak, He was free to be strong in you. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Abundance of life is found in embracing death. The more we die to ourselves, the more alive we truly become. If you’re one of those souls who’s ever felt like your walk with God is just plain mediocre or have felt like there’s more you could experience of God but you’re missing out because you just can’t help but long for more, this post is for you. You know that there’s so much more you could be right now and though you’ve seen God’s plans unfold in your life before; you are painfully aware that you’ve been stagnant in your walk with God. I wonder how many of us have stopped doing our part and left it all to Him. Yes, we need to be dependent on God but this dependency doesn’t give us the right to become lazy or indifferent in our walk with Him. It doesn’t mean that we can just sit around and do nothing. God needs us to walk alongside Him. He wants us to follow Him everywhere He takes us, not to stop or go where we wish to go. Yet so often we think it’s about what we want, as if we were the ones leading God, not Him. But God is not fooled by us- He knows exactly what to do in order for us to understand that He takes the lead. So many of us forget that we didn’t just receive God as Savior, we received Him as Lord also. If He is Lord then He gets the final word, not us. It is His will, not ours, that we are to pursue. We so often talk about God’s will so casually, as if it’s something that fits perfectly with our desires and plans. Have you ever considered that God’s will might be the complete opposite of what you want? More often than not it is and I’m so thankful for that! God sometimes must thwart us in order to lead us into the glorious destiny He planned for us. How does He do that? I’ve seen it so clearly in my own life, in those areas where He does not let things go my way. When He doesn’t bow down to my selfish desires, instead of getting upset with Him I should realize that He’s trying to strip me of selfishness. Can I suggest something to you? What if your greatest challenge or most despised weakness is the very place where God is working in your life? What you most despise is often the very thing that will open the door to the most abundant of joy because weakness serves as a channel for God’s very life to flow freely. Oh, how beautiful is the death of self! How very blessed are the ones that instead of stubbornly rejecting it are choosing to surrender and to trust. There is no greater joy on this earth than losing your life. It’s in losing that you gain the most precious of treasures- the wisdom of God. His wisdom will cause you to see everything through His eyes. It is only then that you are able to soar on the greatest of heights and behold the most exquisite of views. Seek His will instead of your own and watch as He transforms your life into the most glorious existence! Truly, happiness is found in dying to self.