Refresh Your Soul: Moving From Spiritually Dry to Well-WateredSample

I am refreshed by dying to self. By Lauren Weir

You’re dry because you refuse to die. The whispered words pierced into the dark room where I stood bitterly bouncing my little one. I didn’t believe life could be found right here in this lonely room. I was sure it was out there, out where the rest of the grown-ups were enjoying the light of day, the ease of conversation, the choice of doing exactly what they wanted to do on our family vacation.

My refusal to die to myself inhibited the pathway to life. My desire to escape for ease rather than to serve for good came to light, and along with it, the futility of living for self. My attempts to preserve my life through control and bitterness actually left me lifeless.

That Christian call to die to self appeals to no one's flesh, and too often, we view this call as a victim rather than as a martyr. A victim suffers and dies at the merciless use of power. A martyr offers herself for the cause, willing to suffer for what she believes.

How worthy is the cause for which we surrender our lives again and again! We are called to live differently, dying readily, declaring, "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Cor. 5:14–15).

As we bear witness to this profound hope by laying down our lives, God rewards us with more of himself, the source of life. He uses what once separated us from him—death—to be the place we receive living water and nourishing life.

Water Your Soul

Where are you convinced life is found? What evidence of life do you see there?

Make a plan to fast from the place you wrote above. Depending on what it is, you could fast once a week, on the weekends, in the evenings, etc. In the place of fasting, choose to feast on God’s life—through memorization of or meditation on his Word.