Reflections from the Psalms
O Lord my God, If I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honor in the dust. Selah. (Ps. 7:3-5)
Paul exhorts, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” (I Cor. 11:31) Believers need to get it settled once and for all: In the purpose of God it is, “Yet not I, but Christ.” (Gal. 2:20) And we should not merely assent to this because we have no choice. Rather, we ought to realize that there is nothing in us – but that God has given us all things freely in His Son. (Rom. 8:32)
Jesus stated directly, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matt. 16:24-25)
How do we LOSE our lives in the way Jesus is describing? We can start by asking God to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to bring us to the end of our self-rule and self-ownership. Making this commitment is, of itself, a losing of our lives to Christ. But then, as Jesus explained, we must pick up our Cross daily – God will bring us into situations wherein our commitment will be worked out. The result will be that we will find – NOT a, “new and improved US” – but we will find Christ as our life.
Romans 12:1 is a similar exhortation. Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” We get on the altar and renounce all that we are in Adam and ask God to do whatever it takes to deliver us from living from out of Adam, so that through that work of the Cross, we might learn to live from out of Christ.
We do not know our own hearts. But we can, with the Psalmist, commit ourselves to God – that He might bring us into the Truth. Ask God to deal with any secret places in our hearts where we are not open to the Lord. He wants to do this more than we want Him to do it. Such a request is an outworking of losing our lives, but more, it will result in finding and experiencing Jesus Christ.