Skip to main content

So Long Self


"So long self, well it's been fun but I have found Somebody else. So long self, there's just no room for two, so you are gonna have to have to move..."* These lyrics are so true. I can't form an alliance between my selfish nature and Christ's nature formed in me-- no, but this is the beauty of the gospel, how He changes me from inside out. Self battles for control of my mind, my heart, my will... perhaps this why the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength. I'm born into the world loving Self instead.

Being born again in Christ means that now there's another nature in me that loves Him and wants to please Him. "But though You're love is in me, it doesn't always win me, when competing with my sin."* How I wish this wasn't true! I wish at the moment of conversion I lived for Him-- every thought, every action. But if that happened, then I wouldn't need Him, I wouldn't depend on Him. If I've learned nothing else these past ten years, I've learned that I need God. Apart from Him I fail. With Him... well, do I need to say anything else? Do the math: God plus nothing equals everything. Me plus nothing equals... me. Dear Reader: you can't, but God can. Let this truth sink in and may His Spirit strengthen you. Every temptation, each wayward thought, say so long to self and turn to Christ and find joy unspeakable.

Ponder this: if God's spirit lives in me, then the life I now live is for Him not for me.

My Prayer: Lord, may we die daily to our selfish desires and turn to You. Help us to overcome this old nature. Amen.

*MercyMe, So Long Self
*Steve Green, I Repent
*Image credit

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment!

Popular posts from this blog

Free From Doing Whatever I Want

Often we think freedom is being unshackled to do whatever we want. This is the greatest bondage though. Only in Christ can we be free from doing whatever self desires. To will against oneself is utterly impossible unless the Spirit of God is birthed in us. And when this happens, the war begins. The Spirit against the flesh, the flesh against the spirit-- before the Spirit entered it was simply self reigning. Now there's an adversary to my selfish desires who can conquer me as I can not. Oh praise the Lord for Him, who makes freedom possible, though not comfortable or easy, lest we think we no longer need Him. This breaking of self feels at times as though ripped apart within, tortured between desire and will. Yet the best freedom is within reach-- the abundant life that Christ offers. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. Oh if I only lived this way always! To live against selfish desires is to truly love-- only think of it, how much you could serve, how much you co...
Post a Comment
Read more

Unmasking The Gospel

L ike it or hate it, masks and other protective measures are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. I’ve felt a “stuck in the middle'' attitude towards them with deeply opinionated friends on both sides. Through this I’ve found that there’s thoughtful information and well-meaning believers on both sides of the Covid response. When we take an “us versus them” mentality on such superficial issues, we are divided and inadvertently mask the Gospel-- dear reader, this shouldn’t happen! When we focus on all of the litany of rules and regulations, we're ignoring a burgeoning truth pulsing under the Covid crisis. The gospel doesn't have to be masked! There's no sign saying "No Gospel allowed" (yet!). When Paul was in prison he wrote a letter speaking of rejoicing because even though he was in chains, the gospel was not chained, the word of God was not chained. Now, the entire world fraught with a disease-- or fraught with the response to this disease-...
1 comment
Read more

Beware Of The Eternal Now

Nothing lasts forever, right? Well, nothing earthbound anyway. Of course God is forever. And so is the human soul. But circumstances, life experiences-- good and bad-- are all momentary. We read that   "the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17). But sometimes we feel like we're in a forever moment. No matter how much life moves around us, a specific circumstance may feel like it will never change. These forever moments can be good or bad. I remember getting married the feelings of joy and contentment that immediately followed that I felt wouldn't change. Or when I graduated college, or after having my first child. These moments of joy I wanted to last forever. But hardships come and with them bad forever moments. Like arguments, difficult pregnancies, unemployment, and lost friendships. The longer I live the more I find my forever moments are difficult. I love the line in Laura Story's song ...
1 comment
Read more