What Does It Mean Practically To “Die To Self”?

• Denying yourself requires both a willingness and the actual doing of it, in order to sacrifice for the glory of Jesus Christ and for the benefit of other people.
• If it only feels good, maybe you’re not dying to self.
• The essence of sin is choosing self over God.

What does “die to yourself” actually mean in practice? How can I recognize that this is what the Lord is taking me through?

Jesus described this concept in two ways: death to self and denying yourself. When I have the opportunity to take vengeance on somebody who’s wronged me, and I say, “No, I’m going to deny myself that opportunity,” that’s a death to self. When I sacrificially serve another person, even when I have the opportunity to just serve myself, that’s denying myself. Death to self and denying self can happen in little, obscure ways that almost nobody would notice, and it can happen in great, big, dramatic ways that everybody would applaud, such as in the case of a great martyr of the church. Denying yourself requires both a willingness and the actual doing of it, in order to sacrifice for the glory of Jesus Christ and for the benefit of other people. That’s the most practical way I could put it.

If it only feels good, maybe you’re not dying to self. Generally, there’s a moment where you’ll feel like, “This is terrible and I don’t want to do this.” At that moment, we can thank the Lord for the opportunity to do this. The hardest part is the anticipation of actually making the decision to deny the self. At the moment you act on it, you are assured that it was right. It’s an instantaneous movement of perspective.

Nobody died to self more than Jesus. He is the epitome of dying to self, both in the figurative sense and in the literal sense. And Jesus was a man filled with joy. Jesus told His disciples, “I give My joy to you,” and prayed, “Father, fill them with My joy.” The disciples didn’t say, “What is he talking about?” They wanted what He had. Jesus had a genuine joy.

Dying to self and denying the self is always for a purpose. The essence of sin is choosing self over God. Eve was tempted by the prospect of being like God. In choosing to sin, Eve was serving Satan, but she was serving self as well.The essence of sin is independence from God. But when we deny self, we’re saying, “I’m not going to choose my way. I’m going to choose the right way, which is God’s way.” In that moment of making the decision and immediately following, there is an amazing sense that says,
“This was right. I did the right thing.” And the joy that comes with that is inexpressible.