Die For Christ

What does it mean to die for Christ? It is different for each person, but let me tell you what it means to me. It means forcing myself to do the last thing I want to do. It means to push myself when I want to quit. To stop when I want to go. To share my faith when inadequacy prevails. It means to let God take control of the uncontrollable, to learn to submit. I must always consider the consequence to the action. I push my natural self away and allow this foreign person to come inside. Always fighting to control some emotion that I know should not have been there in the first place. It means searching for something that is not always easy to find. Staying home instead of going out. It is allowing myself to have fewer friends in order to find the right ones. It is trying to be strong when I feel weak. It means enduring the ridicule of "educated" people for a faith not easy to describe. It is walking forward into a sometimes blurry future. It means to get up, walk on, and persevere when all I want is rest.

But it also means to find a joy that can't be stolen, to finally have a reason to live, to have a promise that this, too, shall pass. To have a continual best friend, someone that grants me safety, friends, food, and the ability to love. I have been carried more than I have walked, held more than I've been pushed. I have received more than I have sacrificed.

What does it mean to die for Christ? To me, it's a chance to live.