You cannot die to something that you don't know you have. "My people
will be destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6 We
have no revelation from the Lord, no knowledge of truth. We are blinded,
hidden behind that which we have built up to defend ourselves. In
ignorance, we cannot relate to our environment in the realm of truth and life.
Our ignorant self is confused, frustrated, blaming, and striving for love and
acceptance in a conditional world ruled by Satan. This self will go to
great lengths to survive.
There were two trees in the garden. The tree of life represents life
lived out of the Spirit with our dependency on God. The tree of knowledge
of good and evil, represents life lived out of our soul, separate from God. We live "as gods", by making our
own decisions based on what we think is good and evil.
Genesis 3:5
When Adam ate from this tree, man fell into judgment. It's a life of independence relying on our accumulated knowledge and
feelings.
Isaiah 47:10 describes this well. "For you have
trusted in your wickedness; you have said, 'No one sees me'; your wisdom and
your knowledge have warped you; and you have said in your heart, 'I am, and
there is no one else besides me." Satan, the accuser, is our source and we seek
our significance by striving for love and acceptance.
Upon being born again, Christ enters our spirit, bringing it to life.
The Spirit of Christ in us brings us into all truth and puts to death the
self-life lived out of our soul (if we allow Him). As Paul says in
Philippians 3:14, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus." This is our goal, all of Him and none of me.
We want life!
Let us expose the expression of self to the light. We can identify
three practical, concrete expressions of self: settled judgment or
opinion, reasoning, and subjectivity.
When we judge, we insulate ourselves from the object of our
judgment. We will either exalt or put down our brethren. When we
exalt pastors, friends or movie stars, we judge ourselves inferior.
When we view ourselves more spiritually fit,
gifted or
better educated, we judge ourselves superior. We may argue, "But I need to
be able to discern." Absolutely, but to objectively discern our
environment says, "I can tell what is what." When we add judgment
to what we discern, we
shift out of the spirit and into self, which kills organic life and causes division. This
was evident in the church of Corinth. "I am of Paul" or "I am of Apollos" or I am of Cephas"
or I am of Christ" 1Cor.1:12. Division existed among the believers due
to their opinions of the superiority of certain brothers. Whenever we hear
the word "should" or "could", we can know we are operating in judgment.
"You should have..." or "I could have done it differently." No! No! No!
Stop! Halleluiah for forgiveness!
Reasoning, a function of the mind, seeks to justify and defend. Self justification is expression of self in defense.
Our hearts are hard and in stubborn rebellion toward both God and each other. We are trying to gain the
upper hand. So wrapped up in man's approval, we fear humiliation if found
wrong. We lean on our own understanding as we reason.
Proverbs 3:4-6 NKJV
"Christ then becomes of no effect unto you, whosoever of you claim justification
by the law; ye are fallen from grace."
Galatians 5:4
Ezekiel 15:52 "Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters.
Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than
you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters
appear righteous." The repentance that brings freedom comes when we will
allow the Holy Spirit to reveal our true condition, and we become willing to own
it and surrender. Simultaneous is the transition from death to
resurrection as Jesus justifies us.
"He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our
justification." Romans 4:25
Subjectivity is the direct opposite to objectivity and causes us to merge
with demons and their suggestions.
James says "But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition
in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For
jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly,
unspiritual, and demonic."
James 3:14-15 NLT
Considering our own feeling and thoughts, our subjective self is introspective, into
ourselves, self-centered and self-seeking, easily hurt, prone to deception and
condemnation, fearful and suspicious, outwardly focused and shallow.
A subjective person will also be an opinionated, reasoning person. Let's
face it, we all have some degree of subjectivity in us.
In our subjective state, we cannot know ourselves in God's light. When
we are in the realm of the Spirit, however, we can take an objective look at ourselves in
our fallen state. We discover there is nothing good in us, admit it,
confess it, humble ourselves and repent with ease. I call it no-sweat
repentance. It is painless and joyful.
To recognize the face of "self" is a big step toward experientially
dying to self, and surrendering to be resurrected in Christ. So when we catch
ourselves operating out of self, we can put a stop to it and bring it to the
cross. We renounce the faith we've had in ourselves. We no longer
put our trust in self.
Another way the Lord deals with the self is by having someone get involved in our
situation with light and life. The Epistles written to the churches were
simply brothers getting into the lives of the saints with light and life,
ministering the truth in a transparent way.
To have a proper Christian life we need to be able to relate to each other in
truth. The truth tells us we are one body: that there is no division; that
we have an organic relationship with each other in life as the Body of Christ.
For this we need the renewing of our minds through God's word. We need the
Holy Spirit in us to transition us out of the soul-life into the life led by the
Spirit.
