Hard Words Part Two: Choose to Die
"You have ONE identity: I AM GOD'S."
And that one statement has been the theme of what I write and teach and speak. It's the truth we all desperately need to know. And today's post may seem to be contrary to what has become my primary rallying cry. (Well, maybe tied for my primary rallying cry with "Be weird." Also truth.)
So give me just a second to set today's truth right beside that original statement so you can see them together:
You have ONE identity: I AM GOD'S.
You've got to die to yourself.
Now doesn't that sound confusing?
Hopefully by the end of this post it won't be :)
God has called you and loved you and chosen you and blessed you and forgiven you and led you and given you peace, hope, joy, eternity, and favor. (Ephesians 1:3-10). Plus a thousand other things. THIS IS WHO YOU ARE. God's. Your opinion of yourself is based on who He says you are, not on who anybody else says you are. And though it is truth, it's difficult to actually believe down in your heart. You may struggle daily with believing who you are and whose you are.
And if you do believe your identity is wholly in God, you might begin to get a little big-headed, looking down on others who are not as godly or who do not strive to live in obedience. It's a delicate balance between esteeming our identity in God and not letting it make us prideful.
So what do we do?
Let's consider our best example: Jesus. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning" (John 1:1). Jesus had no doubt about who He was: He was God. He had always been God. And Philippians 2:6 tells us that "although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped" (NAS). What does that mean? Look at a few more translations and see if this helps:
"he did not try to remain equal with God" (CEV)
"he did not think that being equal with God was something to be held on to" (ICB)
"did not demand and cling to his rights as God" (TLB)
Jesus was God. He knew it, He believed it, and He never doubted it. But He understood it was not an identity He would use for Himself; His identity was to be used to glorify the Father.
So Jesus "emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8).
Jesus sat aside His identity:
He was God, but He chose to be man.
He was God, but He chose to be a slave.
He was God, but He chose to die on a cross.
He humbled Himself. And it's exactly what we're called to do. It does not mean we forget our identity; in fact, it's because we are who we are that we are confident enough to set that aside in order to live for God's glory. Humbling ourselves never means self-shame, self-loathing, or self-pity. On the contrary, the humblest people you'll ever meet are also the most confident. Why? Because they are strong enough in their identity--I AM GOD'S!--that they are willing to stoop down for others.
Jesus was God, but He did not have a home (Luke 9:58), He washed His disciples' feet (John 13:1-17), He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).
He chose to humble Himself and become a man. He chose to humble Himself and serve others. He chose to humble Himself and die a humiliating, horribly painful death.
And what did He say to us? "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Completely confident in our identity in God, we set it aside. We choose not to get proud or haughty or holier-than-thou. We don't have our identity in God to be great; we have our identity in God so that we have the confidence to lay it aside.
We give up our rights. We choose to serve.
Because we know that it was Christ's humility and cross-bearing that made Him our Savior. He could have come as God in the flesh, performed miracles, walked on water, healed the sick, raised the dead, and we would still be dead in our sins if He had not humbled Himself to the point of death.
So, like Him, we choose to die.
Not physically; we are not called to seek out a martyr's death, even though countless Christians for centuries have lost their lives for the cause of Christ.
But we see the power of Christ's death and we choose to die to ourselves. We know who we were before we were saved by grace and we let her die. You remember her, right? The girl that obsessed over herself. The girl who put herself first. The girl who made her own plans, demanded her own way, and called her own shots.
Yeah, that girl has to die. And we, like Christ, choose to lay down our old self--that pre-Jesus girl--and instead live our lives fully for Him because we are fully identified with Him. And as we choose to let that old girl die we find REAL LIFE in Jesus! We are obsessed with Him. We put Him first. We follow His plans, trust His path, and take one step at a time, knowing He alone has the power and love and knowledge to get us through this day, this year, this season, and this life.
Sometimes we're living so full of ourselves we don't give one thought to God's ways, His laws, His commands, His truths, or His will. So maybe today get somewhere quiet, read through Luke 9 and ask God, "How can I die to myself today so that I can live for you?"
That's humility: fully identified in God to the point of dying to ourselves so that He can live through us.
GLORY.
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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