“Come and Die!”

Twentieth-century German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”* Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis at a concentration camp in Flossenburg, Germany, just days before the end of World War II, understood from experience what it meant to die for Christ.

But his statement had less to do with literally dying than it had to do with spiritually living. Bonhoeffer understood what Paul meant when he wrote, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live” (Galatians 2:20, KJV).

Paul’s graphic language is a potent way of expressing that when a person comes to Christ, that person surrenders his or her life to Jesus so completely that Jesus has permission to carry out His will in the person’s life.

Self-interest is the enemy of the Christian.

Our carnal nature pits us against the will of God. In fact, Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Rome that “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).

Paul never suggested that the carnal mind we are born with can ever make peace with God. There can be no deal brokered between God and the unconverted heart. The only way the carnal, unregenerate mind can be reconciled to God is through death—the death of self and self-interest. Paul described the nature of this battle against self when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily.” Christianity requires constant vigilance and continual surrender. The devil is a cunning enemy, and the modern world is filled with temptations that conspire against the Christian.

Society has been flooded by sin, and the church is being relentlessly attacked on many fronts. Yet the toughest foe you will ever fight is yourself.

God calls you to come to Him and die.

When you do, He can then live His life in you.

It is then that you will experience the joy and victory God desires for you.