Daily Devotion

Get Over Yourself!

"For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you."  1 Corinthians 15:31

I reread this scripture over and over again the last few days and could not see the relevant connection.  But when I couldn't fall asleep until I wrote down this title and part of the scripture, I knew it had a purpose beyond my expression.  Many times as we walk on this road of life, we have our battles, struggled and difficulties.  There are hurdles to jump over, mountains to climb, and bridges to cross.  We get those "bumps in the road" or those big nasty potholes along the way...like the ones that can mess up your alignment, lol.  Yet, a lot of the time, we don't recognize our own hand in the situation.  We don't see how if we had prayed about that decision or asked God what to do in that situation, how things may have turned out completely different.  We fail to wait on God to move in our spirit man and go ahead and make a decision based on the flesh man's impulses.

I had to read a few commentaries to get the revelation of this scripture.  Prior to today, I had always thought that this referred to dying to your own desires. Yes in a sense it does.  But the greater meaning of this scripture is in the simplicity of the words: "I face death daily."  In the literal sense, the apostle Paul was willing to die in the name of Jesus Christ.  He was willing to lay down his own life, as Christ did, in order that he fulfill the calling on his life.  He was willing to be stoned to death, hung, whipped, beaten, stabbed and cut up, even crucified, in the name of our Lord and Savior for the purpose of spreading the Good News to the Gentiles.  The greater part of this scripture is that Paul gave up everything, even his very life, in the name of God.  When we give all to God, we must let go of everything, even the lives we live to truly gain.  We cannot have any sort of motivation towards our own personal gain in our hearts when we say we are working for God.  You cannot truly expect Him to move on your behalf if you are working for yourself.  You cannot expect God to elevate you and you definitely cannot expect Him to truly use you.  Get over yourself--meaning stop looking for a way to get over or a way to misuse whatever gifts and talents God has given you for personal gratification.  Get over yourself and truly willing to die for Christ, because after that point, nothing can separate you from Him!

"Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."'  Romans 8:36