Draw Near – 365 Guides to Greater Intimacy with GodSample

SELF-CRUCIFIXION Within a very few days after marriage, it becomes apparent to the new bride and bridegroom that theirs will be lives of giving. Perhaps they entered into marriage for what they could get, but they soon discover that true happiness can come only if they learn to give. Christ teaches that if we really want to find life, we must lose it in service to our mates. This means hanging on when the trials become harsher. It means enduring, and enduring some more. If we do, we will find that it is worth the effort and that it is indeed "more blessed to give than to receive." In his beautiful and moving book "Afterglow," Sherwood Wirt tells how learning to give revolutionized his life. He says, "It is neither too early nor too late for your marriage. Regardless of the mistakes you have made in the past, you can build relationships that will make a difference. You, too, can have a new love affair with your wife. The Holy Spirit is a renewing spirit." The Bible says: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). In order to be renewed by the Spirit, Wirt says, "We must go to the cross-not only to kneel in reverence, not only to bow in commitment, not only to pick up our cross and carry it, but to be crucified." Self-crucifixion means that Christ will send His power into us as individual selves by the same Spirit. But first, as Richard Bennet says, "The Christian has to attend his own funeral--willingly."