Why in the world would anyone ever want to “die to himself” as Jesus commanded us to do in Luke 9:23? Outside of the obvious reason (because we want to obey Jesus for those of you who didn’t know) there is much benefit in dying to self.

One would be because it helps us to relate to other people better. We often miss out on great relationships because we can’t see eye-to-eye on ridiculous stuff. When we deny ourselves, we can see the value in other peoples perspectives, ideas and personalities.

Two would be because, let’s face it, our way is not always the BEST way...in fact it is hardly EVER the best way. Learning to embrace our flawed nature and embrace the denial of self brings a fresh humility that we need in order to get closer to God.

Third, dying to self helps us to see that we have more in us than we realize. If you know that God is leading you to do something, change a habit, develop a new discipline, it requires death to self. It is a conscious effort that we have to intentionally embrace. It requires that we PUSH ourselves further than we’ve ever gone.

We have more in us than we realize. We can accomplish more than we realize. If we don’t PUSH ourselves, and die to self, we will be nothing more than people who HAD potential, but never saw it realized. Let’s push ourselves to die to self on a daily basis, and be all that He created us and died for us to be!