Dying to Self

Romans 8:13

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Why should we die to self? Our body is controlled by sin since the fall of man and the fruits of our flesh are always sin and the wages of sin is death. The HOLY Spirit can interact only with our human spirit, comprising of our insight and conscience. The soul, which has all the emotions, decision-making authority and will power, is stuck between the lusts of the flesh (which produces sin) and the desires of the spirit (which pleases God). Our soul yields to the one, which dominates in us - either the flesh or the spirit. The flesh has to be put to death, if we need to allow our spirit to succeed, so that we could please God.

         God allows disappointments and failures when we act in flesh, only to slay our flesh in the process, so that spirit could take the lead and produce good fruits. Watchman Nee says that anything that comes from the flesh is impure and is against God - Even our natural goodness cannot please God. This is because, our human goodness is limited and cannot stand beyond a certain limit. For example, a person may be naturally kind and patient. But beyond certain limit of testing (of his patience), that person may burst out and hence cannot completely please God by his own natural goodness. Our flesh always tries to pacify the lusts of our "Self", which leads to sin and keeps us away from God. We must be aware that our flesh tries to even get involved in spiritual activities. If we strive hard to win souls by our fleshly activities, without the moving of the Spirit in us, we would have no fruit which would Please God but we would end up nurturing our own pride and lusts. Pleasing our God is possible when we act in our spirits, by the triggering of the HOLY Spirit and our flesh must be put to death so that our spirit is not extinguished by the lustful and ever active flesh. All our natural traits and characteristics must be put to death, so that we can enjoy a life led by the HOLY Spirit.

How do we know our flesh is still active?? To answer this question, we must be aware of the truth that till we die, our “flesh” keeps on trying to take control – which would, in turn, enslave us to sin. So, as long as we live, there is constant battle between our flesh and our Spirit – to gain control over us. If we find ourselves impatient, lying, deceiving others, complaining and grudging, feeling jealous seeing others’ victory, feeling proud for our accomplishments, giving into temptations – succumbing to the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of flesh and the pride of life - these symptoms in us, give the hint that our flesh is in control. The only way to get rid of our “self” is allowing God’s correction and molding – which may be through those difficult circumstances, those “Why God, Why?” moments, those failures and disappointments.

When we live in the Spirit, we know it by the fruits as described in Galatians 5: 22, 23 - 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.

When God deals with our flesh, let us accept it patiently, since it is the HOLY Spirit who will gain control in us in the end and we would be able to please God. Let us pray that the HOLY Spirit would come upon us and help us put our flesh to death on a daily basis, so that the spirit wins, bringing victory to God.