Most Christians believe dying to self means giving up smoking, drinking, swearing, sex outside of marriage, etc... but I see dying to self as meaning exactly the opposite. As in stop trying so hard and just let God change what He wants to within us.
Consider... the Jews had 100's of laws and regulations, but none of these rules and laws made them any closer to God, in fact, they made people feel overburdened and even spiteful towards God!
In a nutshell, "dying to self" means dying to our own efforts to please God...
God is like a Father, we are His kids. Do your kids have to do this and do that in order to know they are right with you or do you love them regardless of what they do and how many times they do it... knowing they will eventually mature and stop doing things that hurt themselves and others?
God is like a Father, we are His kids. Do your kids have to do this and do that in order to know they are right with you or do you love them regardless of what they do and how many times they do it... knowing they will eventually mature and stop doing things that hurt themselves and others?
Back when I was a legalistic Christian, I tried and tried and tried to stop doing this and that... even reaching the point a few times of telling God, screw it, I can't stop smoking, swearing, looking at porn, etc... so just go ahead and send me to hell if ya want, because I'm basically in agony and torment already because I can't stop enough things in order to please you!!!
Most Christians, if not all Christians have been down this wide road of religious nonsense to one degree or another... it's a miserable journey of pain, guilt, shame, judging others, etc...
But when I finally learned that dying to self meant... Dave, stop trying to please God and just let God change what He will and don't worry about whatever doesn't change... AHHHH, that was the day that I started to experience heaven inside of me with tons of peace, joy and knowing I was right with God. As a result, I stopped serving God and started loving Him!
But when I finally learned that dying to self meant... Dave, stop trying to please God and just let God change what He will and don't worry about whatever doesn't change... AHHHH, that was the day that I started to experience heaven inside of me with tons of peace, joy and knowing I was right with God. As a result, I stopped serving God and started loving Him!
Now, I don't doubt that there is something else after this life, perhaps even the "heaven" that Christianity believes in, but imo, the Bible / Jesus / God isn't talking about the future after we die physically, but rather the now! When we get the understanding / revelation of what it truly means to die to self... then we experience the "heaven" inside of us that God is leading us all into! (The Kingdom of heaven is within us, remember?)
Thanks for reading... Pray about everything, as God is our true teacher!
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