February 25

“To deny anything means that you do not recognize its existence.  To deny ourselves, therefore, does not mean to keep self alive and let it be made miserable by forcing it to do God’s will; but it means to deny the very existence of self and to live only in that part of our nature that loves God’s will and delights to do it.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets of the Christian Life, 2/25

This makes perfect sense to me now.  I liken it to this jury duty I’ve been called to.  The Court not only included a notice in the summons that warned me not to read any newspaper articles on federal trials the days before the trial, they also called my house with a recorded message telling me not to read any articles lest I impede the jury selection process.  They have to know they’ve merely peaked my curiosity that much more.  This is human nature!  It is the same with my ego self.  You tell it it’s not allowed to do something, it will want to do it all the more.  Hannah has it so right.  The only way to deal with ego is to treat it as though it doesn’t exist.  Instead I focus on the life I now live in Christ--He in me and I in Him.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God...Put to death, therefore what is earthly in you...”  Colossians 3:1-3, 5