Help! I’m Not Dead
Let’s start this devotion off with a possibly painful question. If you have made a New Year’s resolution, how is it holding up? If you’re groaning with regret, it may interest you that 25% of New Year’s Resolutions are dropped by the first week. In fact the average statistics show that around 80% of resolutions are destined to fail. Some have even referred to it as New Year’s “Delusion.” Some of these failed resolutions include:
I will read the entire Bible this year.
I will keep my opinions to myself. (Unless my opinion is more important)
My treadmill will be used for exercise instead of a place to hang my laundry.
I will not fall asleep during the pastor’s sermon. (Unless he goes past noon.)
I will stop blaming the dry cleaners for my clothes not fitting.
I suppose the root of these “resolution” problems is that we love ourselves a little too much. Like a spoiled child, we keep giving ourselves what we want even though we know we shouldn’t. It’s in times like these that we began to see the two natures inside of us that Paul described in Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and these are CONTRARY the one to the other…”
Too many times these inward struggles continue year after year because of fleshly traits that haven’t been “killed.” For example, think of a mistake or blunder that you made in 2012. Now ask yourself this question: “What steps am I taking to avoid the same mistake this year?” We’ve all heard the phrase…”Your future is spotless.” While that may be true, we cannot have a spotless future if we do not break the habits that have tarnished our past.
This process of dying to self can be likened to the work of a sculptor. Michelangelo the great artist, was also famous for his sculptures. One day a visiter asked him how he created such amazing statues of King David. Michelangelo responded, “I simply chip away anything that doesn’t look like David.”
Are you wanting to die to self this year? If so, then don’t draw back when God shows up with His hammer and chisel! We can only become like Him if we let Him chip away the anger, hurt, torments, pride, self will, stubbornness, etc.
Too many times we, as humans, take matters into our own hands and try to play the role of the Sculptor. And in the process of us swinging the hammer, we end up hurting someone far worse. I think we would all put down the hammer if we simply examined the work that still needs to be done on ourselves.
I’m reminded of a story about an elderly man and his wife Ethel. He called the doctor because he was worried that Ethel was going deaf. The doctor told the man to perform a simple hearing test on his wife. “Tomorrow morning, go stand in the doorway of the kitchen and ask your wife what she is fixing for breakfast,” the doctor instructed. “If she doesn’t answer, take two steps closer and ask again. Repeat this until she answers you.” Satisfied, the elderly man hung up the phone and went to bed. The next morning he went down to the kitchen and stood in the doorway. “Ethel what’s for breakfast?” he asked. No response. So he took two steps forward. “Ethel…WHAT’S for breakfast?”. Still no response. So he took two more steps forward. “ETHEL….WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST?” With that, his wife spun around. “George! For the third time….HAM AND EGGS!”
So many times we are like George and think that someone else is the problem. I’ve heard people complain that they would be closer to the Lord if they had a different pastor, or a different Sunday School teacher, or a different job, etc. The list of excuses are endless. My friend, the more time you spend in the prayer room, the less time you’ll spend in the complaint room. It’s in those secret places of prayer that we should ask the Lord to chip away our own imperfections, instead of complaining about all the imperfections of others.
In the coming month, let’s all make a resolution to be a little more dead to our self. Better still, ask the Lord how you can die daily as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:31. It’s truly amazing how the more we die to self, the more we feel alive in Christ! Let me leave you with something that illustrates our devotion perfectly:
When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.”