How To Die To Selfishness

When I originally read this booklet it was titled: How To Die to Self. The contents appear the same. May the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variance, nor shadow of turning, spark a fire of desire and delight for being conformed and molded into His likeness.

*~*~*~*~* Intro *~*~*~*~*

How to Die to Selfishness is a beacon in the current evangelical landscape. The world, and much of the visible church with it, has turned its back on submission to the will of God in daily life. Instead it is in an all out quest for personal affluence and happiness, in a word: selfishness. There is an assumption that “as long as we do not directly violate one of God’s overt commands in the Bible, we are ‘free’ to enjoy life and do what we want.” But the Scriptures speak plainly:

“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). This booklet’s focus is on mortifying selfishness in our lives.

1. How to Die to Selfishness

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”—Romans 8:13 Before we can begin to explore the Biblical principles for self-denial, there are some false notions which must be exposed and removed from our thinking.

False Notions of Dying to Self

One false notion is the conceiving of a wrong hatred to ourselves. The more we are divinely illuminated the more minutely and astonishingly do we apprehend the almost infinite blindness, foolishness and meanness of our past lives. Unless we are kept very mellow and subdued, this sight of our meanness may tempt us to form a bitter, revengeful feeling toward ourselves, and under such an impression, we may feel like punishing ourselves in some unnatural way, or by the making of unscriptural and rash vows. This is the source of cruel and unnatural penances.

Another false notion is the choosing of some line of mortification for ourselves, or the selection of some special cross. This will defeat the very end we want to attain, which is the loss of our will in all things. But the very act of choosing a cross for ourselves keeps alive our own preferences and furnishes a secret nourishment to self-will, and furnishes a little place for self to live under the very pretext of dying to self.

Another erroneous view is that we can sink to a deeper death by over work, by engaging ourselves to a heavier task than we can reasonably accomplish. Even if the extra work be of the most religious kind, still it supplies a field for self-activity. It is in this respect that St. Paul speaks of persons under a false zeal, going to every extreme of self-imposed poverty, and even burning at the stake, yet all under the principle of selfcenteredness, and not true self-denial.

Another false notion is that we are to indolently leave ourselves to the mere law of development, and if we can only be kept from well-defined sins, we are not to tax ourselves with anything deeply spiritual but leave ourselves to grow without a diligent attention to growth. This is the opposite error from some of the foregoing. It is to be feared that this last error is the one that most persons drift into.

Read more -->HERE.

Day 332

O. Book of Romans (from Corinth) ~ cont.

1. Universal sin and its answer; justification by faith, none are righteous ~ cont.

d. Results of justification - Romans 5:1-21
e. Sanctification - Romans 6:1-23; 7:1-6
(1) False sanctification - Romans 7:7-25
(2) True sanctification - Romans 8:1-39


And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.  (Romans 5:3-5)


Glory in tribulation?  Do we?  What does Paul mean by glory?  Tribulation = patience = experience = hope = not ashamed.


glory - G2744 - From some (obsolete) base akin to that of αὐχέω aucheō (to boast) and G2172; to vaunt (in a good or a bad sense).


tribulations - G2347 - From G2346; pressure (literally or figuratively).


worketh - G2716 - From G2596 and G2038; to work fully, that is, accomplish; by implication to finish, fashion.


patience - G5281 - From G5278; cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy.  G5278 - From G5259 and G3306; to stay under (behind), that is, remain; figuratively to undergo, that is, bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere.


experience - G1382 - From the same as G1384; test (abstractly or concretely); by implication trustiness.


hope - G1680 - Fromἔλπω elpō which is a primary word (to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstract or concrete) or confidence.


ashamed - G2617 - From G2596 and G153; to shame down, that is, disgrace or (by implication) put to the blush. 


Having been allowed some intense tribulations, I can firmly attest to Father's continual care in and through them.  That doesn't mean I don't wilt when I get a new one, or cry to be REMOVED.  However, I am fully assured though that HE can and will bring me through to the other side.  I will be missing dross, but I will be purified and more conformed to HIS image. :-) Take heart if you are in the midst of trials, He will never leave you or forsake you.  Never.


For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  (Romans 5:10)


enemies - G2190 - From a primary word ἔχθω echthō (to hate); hateful (passively odious, or actively hostile); usually as a noun, an adversary (especially Satan).


reconciled - G2644 - From G2596 and G236; to change mutually, that is, (figuratively) to compound a difference.


saved - G4982 - From a primary word σῶς sōs̄ (contraction for the obsolete σάος saos, “safe”); to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively).


All I can think:  Thank you Lord.  In and of myself, I would have kept on hating God, desiring to pull down and destroy anything about Him.  Whether I would have recognized that as my goal is not the point...it is the fact.  One is either spiritually alive or dead.  There is no in between.  Jesus said that those who are not for Him, are against Him.  Thank you Lord for Your reconciling work, past, present and future.  :-)


Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.  (Romans 6:18)


free - G1659 - From G1658; to liberate, that is, (figuratively) to exempt (from moral, ceremonial or mortal liability).  G1658 - Probably from the alternate of G2064; unrestrained (to go at pleasure), that is, (as a citizen) not a slave (whether freeborn or manumitted), or (generally) exempt (from obligation or liability).


sin - G266 - From G264; sin (properly abstract).  G264 - Perhaps from G1 (as a negative particle) and the base of G3313; properly to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), that is, (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin.


servants -G1402 - From G1401; to enslave (literally or figuratively).  G1401 - From G1210; a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency).


righteousness - G1343 - From G1342; equity (of character or act); specifically (Christian) justification. G1342 - From G1349; equitable (in character or act); by implication innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively).


How many of us actually think of ourselves in terms of being a servant?  Redeemed to serve the master?  Do we even have a desire to desire to please Him?  Just typing that makes me realize how I fail to think in those terms.  I go about my day and rarely think about what I am doing as to whether HE would find it pleasing.  Do we seek to glorify Him in even the littlest of daily details?