I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
“There is a time to be born and a time to die… For Saint Paul every moment was a time to die, as he proclaims in his letters: I swear by the pride I take in you that I face death every day… How Paul died daily is perfectly obvious. He never gave himself up to a sinful life but kept his body in constant control… He was always being crucified with Christ. It was not his own life he lived; it was Christ who lived in him. This surely was a timely death, a death whose end was true life.”
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 — c. 395) in Ecclesiastes as recounted Milton Walsh in Witness of the Saints: Patristic Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012) 416.
Don’t think me morbid with this post. Hang with me to learn a lesson from Paul and Gregory.
It starts with Christ who gave Himself for us. This inspired Paul to die daily. We get to follow suit. And here’s the reason why. It’s the only way to grasp life. Please hear me. Whatever we hold on to we lose. So, if we try to hold on to life daily, we actually lose it. We only find life when we choose to die daily. This relates to our living and our giving.
That’s why we hold nothing back. Only when we let go of everything (including life and money) do we gain anything.
As I shared yesterday, I am excited that God has opened the door for GTP to work in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova. Jenni and I will serve in Ukraine with Michael and Nina Cherenkov and with GTP partner on the ground Mission Eurasia. See my post yesterday for more details on how we aim to bring help and hope.
Join us. Die daily. And I’ll share our itinerary next week, but right now we need funds for travel and delivering relief, especially with the dam breaking. Click here to make a gift to GTP to help send us. Thanks.