You have the right to die.
Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with terminal cancer chose to end her life by assisted suicide. For weeks the media followed her every move, videotaping her best and worst moments. Politicians flocked to support her or speak against her, all the while Christians were and are heartbroken as Brittany Maynard missed the point of dying.
She needed to die.
The truth is, she needed to die, not a physical death, but a death to personal preference. She needed to die to her right to live and die as she chose, She needed to surrender to life as God has ordered it. Only then would Christ be glorified in her weakness and not vilified as the one who allowed her tumor.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25
Just as each of you have the right to die to yourself. Not a literal death, but a symbolic one that declares to the world that you are a new person in Christ.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:4
Let’s be very clear in this, every moment is worth living. When Christ is your Lord and savior, every second of your life is for Kingdom-living, for pointing others to Christ, for growing to be more and more like Christ. Life is not for seeking personal comfort, not for fleshly gain or avoiding every inconvenience of life whether big or small. When we face trials in this life it should not distract us from our mission. So even in the midst of tragic circumstances you can still share your faith often, love God and love others and serve them! All of these are an overflow of truly accepting that to die to oneself and submitting to life no matter what comes, is to gain eternity.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
When faced with a terminal illness, as a Christ-follower die to yourself so that He may be given the glory!
One living example is Ed’s Story. Ed is dying from ALS but he chooses to live every moment for God. Given only 2-5 years to live, 10 years later Ed is making a statement every day that affirms we do not have the control. God does, and the time we have left is what matters most.
Dying to self is something Christians should practice every day. If you have never taken the step to die to self, you can pray to receive Christ today. Die to yourself and live every moment for The One who died for you!
