If I desire the Holy Spirit to fill me, there is only one way. It is not necessarily that I need more of Him; I need less of me. It is only in an emptying of myself that I am filled by the Spirit. This death to self is an absolute necessity if I desire to see the power of God in my life.
It is important that we begin by looking at what the Scripture means by the self or the flesh. It is essentially me living for me. It is doing what I want to do. It is being guided by what I want. It is seen in all the works of the flesh that are nothing more than gratifying self.
Jesus’ teachings stand in stark contrast to the self-life. Jesus demands self-denial. It is one of the core tenants of His teachings. You cannot truly follow Christ without denying self. This denying self is a death to self. A death that is painful and results in a loss of who you are. Jesus makes it clear that we are not to seek to preserve self for what He offers us is far better. We must be willing to part with our deeply held views of self (our identity) in order to be what Christ declares us to be.
So often we forfeit incredible things for the sake of our own egos. We would rather part with marriages, relationships, and a host of things before we are willing to part with our pride. This is why we are so reticent to share the Gospel or take a stance for Christ. Our egos cannot handle the criticism or the loss of reputation that will follow. It is only in death to self that we can learn to boldly proclaim Christ in the love and power of the Spirit.
How then do we die to self? The process is fairly straight forward. We simply believe the Gospel, all of it. A massive part of the Gospel is identification with Christ in His death and resurrection. This is what we proclaim when we are baptized; I died with Jesus, and He now lives within me. The real question is do we really believe this? The way to die to self is not works; it is simply believing that I have already been crucified with Christ.
This belief in the Gospel changes the way we view suffering. We begin to rejoice in suffering because it separates us from our selfishness. I am no longer living for my own pleasure! I am blessed in Jesus, not my circumstances. I am strong when I am weak, because the strength was never mine to begin with. Whatever good has come out of my life has been Christ in me, not me.
This self-denial is not a one-time thing. It is a daily thing! We must constantly be telling ourselves, “No!” Every thought must be captured and submitted to Christ. By the Spirit I must continually be denying the evil desires my flesh produces. This is where discipline comes in. The Christian life is not one of will power. It is one of daily telling myself, “No!”
Why would anyone do this? Because we believe the Gospel! We believe that Jesus is all we need. He can live our lives better than we can ourselves. We reject self-sufficiency in order to embrace Christ-sufficiency. This brings us to the ultimate question:
Who is living your life? You or Christ?
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