Die to Self - Live in Christ

Take Up Your Cross

Recognizing who we are in Christ is crucial as we enter the end times.
And as we have received Christ, we must walk in a manner worthy of Him. We must "no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds." (Ephesians 4:17)

For those who do not know Christ "darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity." (Ephesians 4:18-19)

But for those of us who are in Christ, we have received the light and walk in the light of the Lord. We have received "the truth [that] is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:21-24)

And did not Jesus Himself say, "And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].'" (Amplified Version) --- Luke 9:23

For as followers of Christ, we can say, "I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Amplified Version) --- Galatians 2:20

For Jesus also said, the cost of discipleship is great:
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."
"So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
(Luke 14:25-27, Luke 14:33)

When we surrender all to Christ, our lives are dead to sin and alive to God:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
---Romans 6:3-11

As the end times unfold, be mindful that God is in control and nothing will happen to us that Jesus won't work out for our good in the end.

We have nothing to fear.
Those who have died to the world and live in Christ have nothing to fear and nothing to lose.
Anything we lose as followers of Christ will be repaid and more in the age to come.
(Mark 10:29-31)

We are already dead to self and to the world and the evil world system.

"For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity]." (Amplified Version)
--- Philippians 1:21

"for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s."
-- Romans 14:8

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."
--- John 12:24-26