I’ve been thinking a lot about the humility of Christ and how His way of being is antithetical to the Self-Life. Here are some quotes from a few writers and speakers. They call it different things. Some call it the ego¸ pride, the sinful nature, the flesh, but they’re all talking about the same thing.
Our default setting everyday is to prioritize our own needs over the needs of others. Our life might look moral, upstanding and good, but it is still on our own terms. We want to be left alone and don’t want to be told what to do. It is our ingrained tendency, our default setting. And it doesn’t look evil. It looks normal, like the way it is and therefore it’s easy to underestimate its power, but it leads to death. – Paraphrase, Rankin Wilbourne – “Life in the Spirit,” Pacific Crossroads Church
There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess…The self-life is not something we do, but something we are. The self-sins are: self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, self-pity, self-promotion… Tinkering with our inner life will not rend the veil. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield and trust.
The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and renunciation of all things. If we are set upon the pursuit of God He will sooner or later bring us to this test. The ancient curse will not go down painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die. We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering like that of our Savior on the Cross. – paraphrase, A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God.
I keep trying to fight to be free from the self-life, but He keeps telling me to simply look at Him and let Him do the rest.
