I almost killed myself in 1977!
I remember those years when I thought I was indestructible. I would run out into 12 foot ocean surf, dive under, and swim out to catch some waves. I was not athletic enough to get a surf board through those waves so I settled on body surfing. I remember one time on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii being in those 12+ crashing waves. I had managed to swim into a riptide. I could only thrash in the waves trying to get back to shore. I finally remembered to swim sideways out of the riptide. By the time I got to the beach I could only crawl on my hands and knees. I remember another time during this same year that I stood at the top of a waterfall and seriously considered jumping. Looking at a photo later I realized it would have been the last jump of my life.
I do not know how I managed to get through these times except because of the call of the Lord on my life. For some reason He helped me through these possible disasters,. Many times while in Colombia and Honduras, I have faced situations that were very stressful and threatening. Some say that when your time is up, it is up, and there is nothing you can do about it. That is not a Biblical based belief…. after all, what is the promise if you keep the first commandment? Sure God knows your day because he looks back from our future but he has given us commands and guidelines on how to live a long prosperous life.
There seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to the Christian idea of “dying to self.” We get the idea that we should always be dying to self from 1 Corinthians 15:31 where the Apostle Paul says, “I die daily.” There have been many messages preached on this subject. This context of this passage has Paul reputing the false doctrine that the 2nd coming of Jesus had already taken place and that there would be no resurrection from the dead. Paul is making a point that he is always facing death and why would he put himself through that if there was no resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul is saying, that if this is all there is, then why go through all of this suffering? He is talking about physical death and physically raising from the dead. You could look at the scripture as saying, “Stuff is always trying to kill me” as that is the context of the passage.
In Galatians 2:20 and Romans chapters 6-8 teach that we are already dead in Christ and have also been made alive in Him. Yes, it is good to recognize this every day while we understand our place in Christ. So what is our life to look like as a believer? We are to walk in love. Love is expressed in many ways such as grace, forgiveness, works of service, and relationships. Grace has far more requirements than the law every did but the big difference is that grace has the built-in ability to fulfill the command while the law did not.
Sin is in opposition to love. If you sin, it causes stains on your robe of righteousness. In 1 John 1:9 we see that when a believer asks forgiveness we are cleansed. In Mark 11:25 we see a very important condition to this forgiveness. You must forgive in the same way you have been forgiven. There are many verses that support this but it is just common sense. If you have been forgiven of everything, then would it not just be right for you to forgive others of everything? This is an important point that God will not overlook. Christian are you bound up? Is it possible that you have not forgiven others of their offense against you?
These are simple points that should be revisited by all Christians. We are Saints saved by grace. We have died to this world in Christ and we are now alive in Him. We walk in love and not law. We forgive and do not judge. Judgment melts away to forgiveness. All of this is made possible by Grace.
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