Too Busy Dying

 

Alice C. Linsley

Recently a loved one died after a long life of caring for her family, serving her church, and enjoying life to the fullest. Shortly before her death, she told her daughter that she had never thought much about death. Her daughter pondered that remark and concluded that her mother was too busy living. What a wonderful way to remember the woman who lovingly raised you!

There is another excellent way to live, and that is to be too busy dying to self. This way of life takes seriously Jesus’ call to deny oneself and take up the cross (Matt. 16:24). St. Anthony of the Desert expressed it in these words, "Die daily if you wish to live eternally." Ignatius of Loyola said, "I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth."

In Christian asceticism, dying to self is referred to as "slaying the passions" of pride, anger, envy, gluttony, and greed. When our focus is on earthy things, we cannot rise above the passions or vices. Nor can we do so in our own strength. The gift of the Holy Spirit is needed to daily die that Christ might live more fully in and through us. The Apostles received that gift in abundance on the day of Pentecost.

In 1 Corinthians 15:31, Paul explains that he dies daily. To the Galatians, he explained that he has been “crucified with Christ,” and no longer lives because the version of Paul that God never intended has been surrendered so that Christ might live actively in him through faith. 

Finally, we have this assurance: "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies. Death no longer rules over Him. For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom. 6:8-11)

Related reading: Blessings of Dying to Self – Reina Beaty