3 Ways Jesus Showed How To “Die Daily”
By Emily Massey
“I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31)
As Jesus’ disciples, we are called to follow Him. That was Paul’s mission in life – to imitate Christ. And it is what he and the rest of the apostles literally gave their lives to preach to the world through their words and actions. We may not ever get the honor to literally die for Jesus Christ because of our faith in Him, but by God’s grace, we can imitate His selflessness every day.
How do we imitate Christ in our everyday life? Here are three ways Jesus lived a selfless faith on earth.
1. Jesus humbly approached the Father through prayer.
Even though Jesus was God in the flesh, He still leaned upon God the Father for everything He said and did while He walked this earth. Jesus would rise early to pray and seek God for His will for the day.
2. Jesus obediently submitted Himself to the will of the Father.
Each day, we are faced with the temptation to satisfy our flesh and go outside the boundaries of God’s perfect will. We discover what that will is when we read the Bible and study it for ourselves to learn God’s ways. We are not perfect, but thankfully Jesus was, and because of His sacrifice on the cross, we have been given the precious gift of the Holy Spirit as born-again believers.
We read in Luke 22, when Jesus was praying in the garden on the night before His crucifixion, He cried out to the Father: “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22: 42).
At His most desperate hour, He yielded His life to God’s plan, even when it meant that He was going to die a very painful death. Yet, He knew that wasn’t where the story ended; there would be a resurrection.
3. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve others.
Jesus ministered to thousands upon thousands of people during His time here on earth. John 21 tells us that if all the things Jesus did were all written down, the entire world could not contain the books that would be written!
Who is God asking you to serve? What selfish desires do you need to lay aside to put someone else’s life before your own? Are you too busy or too distracted to serve others?
Adapted from “What Did Paul Mean When He Said, “I Die Daily”?”
Related Resource: Study the Book of Daniel with Us This Fall!
What does it look like to live with courage, clarity, and conviction when everything around you feels uncertain? The book of Daniel tells the story of faith under fire—of ordinary people who stayed rooted in God while living in a culture that didn’t share their values. From exile in Babylon to lion’s dens and prophetic dreams, Daniel shows us that small acts of faith can anchor us in uncertain times.
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