Day 91 until Easter~~~~~~Death to Self

Dec 12-30-12

When I think of the subject of “death-to-self” the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I get offensive. After all, I’m an adult and have been for several years I should not have to deny myself anything. I have a job I can pay for whatever it is I want. If I want a banana split I can get it, I don’t need mommy around anymore telling me what I can or cannot do.

Wrong!

 

The job of mom if you think about it is to do their job so well that they work their way out of a job. As the child grows up they are to take over where mom or dad left off and are able to care for themselves. One of the lessons to be learnt is the lesson of dying to one’s self. To be able to say “No” once in a while in order to maintain proper discipline and good choices.

Just because I can say “Yes” doesn’t make that the right answer. If I’m eating too much and I’m gaining weight I need to die to myself and the desires I have to eat in a greedy, glutton, selfish kind of way.

 

After doing this for a while I have found that I still manage to live, duh! It doesn’t kill me totally to say “no” to a cookie today because tomorrow I may be able to have one if I’m truly hungry and one cookie doesn’t turn into a jar full of cookies.

 

By nature we are selfish people and we need to learn the lesson of dying to ourselves. Learning quickly how to say “No” and to think of someone more than ourselves. Once again just because we “can” do something doesn’t make it right. We need to be living our lives in a manner that glorifies God and benefits us and those around us. Dying to one’s self doesn’t kill us, it causes us to grow in the right way and mature more and more into the person we need to be.

 

Growing beyond the size I am today into the size of clothes I should be requires death to self and the bad choices I’ve been making that got me to where I am today weight wise. It’s a choice, a discipline worth taking. In the long run it causes me to gain something much more than extra pounds. I gain maturity and satisfaction in Christ.

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett at Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing for Growing Beyond