Growing Means Dying?

Does growing as a Christian mean dying?
Our pastor at the Bible Church of Beebe has been preaching through the book of Ephesians, which has greatly challenged us in our Christian walk.  The last few Sundays he has taught in Ephesians chapter 5.  This past Sunday he shared with us a quote from pastor & teacher John MacArthur that is so powerful and life changing that we decided to share it with others.  In order for us to grow in Christ-likeness, we must learn to die to self, which is in complete opposition to the world's philosophy of self-esteem.  Although this quote was directed toward men, it is applicable for everyone.

 “Death to Self—saves you from being defensive, revengeful, retaliatory, hostile, accumulating the list of things against you.  When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposefully set aside, and you sting and hurt with the insult or oversight, but your heart is happy, and you count it a privilege to suffer for Christ—that is dying to self.   When your good is evil spoken of, when she misunderstands you, when your desires are not interesting to her, when your advice is disregarded and your opinions are ridiculed, when you are mistreated or misunderstood and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself—that is dying to self. When you lovingly patiently bear any disruption, any irregularity, any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with folly, and waste, extravagance and insensitivity and endure it as Jesus endured it, that is dying to self.  

When you are content with any food, any clothes, any climate, any society, any interruption, any solitude, that is dying to self.  When you never care to refer to yourself in a conversation, or to record and recite your own good works, or to pursue commendation, when you can truly love to be unrecognized for something good, that is dying to self.  

When you see someone else prosper, someone else reach goals that you desire and you can honestly rejoice with that other person in spirit, feel no envy and not question God while your needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances that is dying to self.  When you can receive correction and reproof from your wife and humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly feel no rebellion and no resentment rising in your heart, that is dying to self.  That’s what makes you the leader that God wants you to be in your home.”  

As God's child, what does it look like for you or me to die to self daily?   Although the specifics will be different for each of us, (each one has specific heart issues) we can all relate to the "heart struggle" or the dying to self struggle.   So, we can say that growing does mean dying...