"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (MT 16:25)

Why do we have to die in order to live? Since man ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we have been under the curse of self worship. Self has been put up on the throne and exalted, and it leads to emptiness every time. Putting ourselves first will never bring blessings, because God’s kingdom doesn’t work that way. He has set up creation so that we receive His blessings when we seek first His kingdom.

Meanwhile, Satan came along and deceived Adam, causing him and all of his offspring to have a me-first nature, the opposite of God. This me-first nature makes it impossible to receive blessing from heaven. It’s terminal. Our me-first nature cannot be cleaned up, dressed up, or enhanced. There is only one answer: we need a me-first-ectomy. As our only hope, Jesus is calling us to remove self from the throne of our life and to place it on the cross. Only then will we have eyes to see Jesus exalted. Only then will we be open to receive the abundant life.

Used with permission by:

FreshBread

Hayden Andrews