Dying to Self...

So something else I have been thinking about that I thought I would share. I'm reading a book by Amy Carmichael (a woman who served as a missionary working with children in India several decades ago) and one part really stuck out to me. The book is called You are My Hiding Place and the excerpt is called "A chance to die." It's all about using everyday experiences with others to really die to ourselves and have Christ living though us. I keep asking myself...am I really doing this? She writes, "take every opportunity as a chance to die...to die to self, to the pride that comes from defending ourselves...die to anything that rouses you to 'claim your rights' or even to consider them at all. Welcome anything that calls you to your only true position: 'I have been crucified with Christ...' A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked." Basically, she is just saying if we have been crucified with Christ, and we are filled by Him, our thoughts and our speech should be overflowing with Him, and they should be pursuing the question not of "how can I meet my needs today?" but of "how can I deny myself for His glory today?"

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."