FREE CHOICE FOLLOWING

There is a steady stream of reminders in scripture that we “are to die to self” as a condition to be alive to Christ. One such example is Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” I also notice, as in this verse, that the dying to self is often equated with the Cross: crucified with Christ. It is not some type of dying like. ‘I gave up smoking,’ or “I quit cussing so much,’ or ‘I quit going to X rated movies,’ ‘I quit sports gambling,’ and such things. Quitting something, or changing something is not the same as ‘dying to self, even though they may be good ideas. Dying is shaped like a Cross.
The issue is really as our Lord taught us, “No man takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own self” (John 10:18). There is no other way this will happen. If I do not surrender ‘to lay down my own life’ it will not be properly and willfully laid down.
It is much like the text: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”
(2 Corinthians 3:17). There is no freedom without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and there is freedom with the Spirit. We must choose how we live. Religion, tradition and culture won’t do it for us. We must surrender… one-to-One.

“This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” Jesus