A dose of DOS (Die of Self)

I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.
—Galatians 2:20

People sometimes will use the expression, "We all have our cross to bear." But our cross to bear is not whatever we find difficult in life. The cross to bear, so to speak, is the same for everyone: it is dying of self.

Dying of self means resisting the temptation to do what everyone else is doing when you know it is wrong. Dying to self means forgiving instead of harboring a grudge. Dying of self means putting down the remote control and picking up the Bible. Dying of self means praying when you would rather be sleeping. Dying of self means swallowing your pride and telling someone about Jesus Christ at the risk of being mocked. Dying of self means doing what God wants you to do rather than doing what you want to do.

Sounds really hard to ‘die of self’ huh? Especially if you gotta do it for Jesus, it seems so hard. Even not doable.

But for your boyfriend? Girlfriend? You done died and gone to heaven and back for them! Seriously!

How many of you ever been in love?
If you have, you know that when your boyfriend says he’d die for you, he’d do anything just to be with you…those GOMBAL words really get to you. You’d end up cooking for him, slaving yourself for him. Come on, admit it, the minute you hear those words….like “you’re the only one for me….I’d do anything for you… All you wanna do is please them! Which means: you die of self. You give up things you normally do for things that would make your beau (tata, yayang, koko etc) happy. You start waking up an hour earlier to shave your legs, put on make up, etc….You find yourself doing things you normally wouldn’t do just to please him/her. Oh what love can do.

Isn’t it amazing to think that we’re more willing to ‘die of self’ without hesitation when it comes to our boyfriend/girlfriend, who generally won’t do what they say they would (die for me? do anything for me? Please, we know better :)). But for Jesus, who DID IN FACT DIE FOR US, who did erase all of our sins and made us righteous, it is such a tough thing to do to give up ourselves for Him!! We always find reason NOT to die of self and bear the cross when it comes to Jesus. Would you agree???

Today I want all of us to realize, that the ONLY one who is not a "GOMBAL king" is our God Jesus. When we are crucified with Him on the cross, He automatically lives in you. Knowing how much He loves you, how much he had sacrificed for you, should be MORE than enough reason for you to die of self everyday.

His love for you should be more than enough reason for you to tell people about Him, to wake up just a bit early in the morning to read the bible. To eat better, to live healthier. To study and work harder. To forgive that person whom you hate to the bone, to forgive yourself for the things you did, To stop worrying. To tithe more (for us Chinese people, that's tough :) )To give away money to those who are unfortunate- when you don’t think you have enough. The list goes on.

I pray today that you would decide to take ONE little step of self sacrifice to show Him how much you appreciate His love and sacrifice for you. Whatever action you choose – it will please Him!

I challenge you, to pick ONE specific action of ‘DIE OF SELF’ each day, and log it in a note book (Walmart has it on sale for 50 cents!). Call it: " My DOS (Die of Self) Book". In a a couple months or so, we will hang out and use this book and testify how your life is transformed, just because you are willing to take a small dose of DOS.

Have a great week y'all!!

M'goose
for GOL ATL