To Live is to Die

It's the Christian call, right? To die to ourselves, to live for Christ, to carry our crosses and follow Him. However, do we truly  understand what that looks like? The American church has a way of simplifying things that should remain complex, and creating complexities out of things that are meant to be simple.

Matthew 18 tells it like this:

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'  Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'"

You might ask what this passage has to do with dying to ourselves, and I promise I'll get to that. In this passage, Christ made it clear that not only can children understand His message, but can also accept His truths with more ease than adults are able to. You see, often we over analyze things. We try to figure out what it is we need to say and do to make God happy. This passage however, makes it clear that a child-like, innocent faith, and a willingness to obediently submit to our Father are all that is required to inherit the Kingdom. 

We know from scripture that Christ is our ultimate example, and that we, as His disciples, are meant to follow in His footsteps. This brings us back to our original question: "What does it mean to follow in Christ's footsteps? To "die to ourselves?" To "carry our crosses?" Christ's goal while He was on Earth was to glorify the Father. He walked obediently, willingly submitting to the Father, trusting that God's plan was greater. 

So to walk in Christ's footsteps, simply put, is to walk with a child-like faith, to trust our Father, submitting to His will. Dying to ourselves does not necessarily mean living with nothing, or merely enduring pointless pain for the sake of experiencing what our Savior experienced. Although sacrifice often does entail pain, it isn't sacrifice for sacrifice sake, but rather it is for our benefit.  Handing over our need to control things allows for joy, peace and contentment in our lives.

I love the way that Elisabeth Elliot puts it:

"I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: 'Thy will be done...' We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God could not want that for the creatures to whom He has given the breath of life. We die in order to live."