by Fenelon
Many are deceived into thinking that the death of self is the cause of all the agony they feel. But that which is dead does not agonize. The more finally and completely we die to self, the less pain we experience.
Death is only painful to he who resists it. Self always resist death, because of its intense desire to live!
The imagination works over time, exaggerating the terrors of death. The spirit argues endlessly that the life of self is simply the natural thing. Self-love fights against death, like a sick man in his last struggle. But regardless of the protests of self, we must die inwardly as well as outwardly. The sentence of death has gone forth against the Spirit as well as against the body. The body must die because of sin. But the spirit must die to sin, and to itself.
Be sure that your spirit dies (to itself) and then our bodily death will be as peaceful as falling asleep. Happy are they who sleep this sleep of peace.
Quotes from Norman Grubb on Dieing to Self
"Because we ourselves have so much of the old grave clothes still clinging to us, we are quick to see those same characteristics in others."
"God uses evil to bring about good — not causing it, but using it."
"We have one great enemy of faith — within us, and not in our circumstances ---- fear of the visible. ( We see five loaves & two fishes - Jesus saw His Father’s unlimited supply.)"
"Leave Him to mind His own business. The heat is on Him to do the keeping!"
“… self-improvement is both a sin and an impossibility.
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