Comments on: Growing Strong as God Followers

By: mattsummers

mattsummers — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:58:04 +0000

Francois: Thank you for your comment. You don’t sound “hostile” at all. You ask a good question. Dying to and Denying oneself is one of Jesus’ primary teaching themes throughout the Gospels. Unfortunately, His followers have rarely done a good job following His teachings. As Ghandi is famous for saying, “I like your Christ but I do not like your Christians. Because your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” In Mark 8:34-35, Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

By: jen

jen — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 20:58:01 +0000

I would add Communication with our Creator. In order to have a close relationship I have to be in close communication with Him. You know the typical ways… prayer, my journal, reading the Word & worship. My favorite way is just talking to Him throughout my day. Some days it’s out loud, some days it’s in my head, but I try to have consistent communication. ; )

By: Work In Progress Online Bible Community

Work In Progress Online Bible Community — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:37:22 +0000

I agree with your points and I think #5 Responsibility & Accountability within a Christian Community is missing in many many churches. Pastors and church leaders are NOT accountable to nobody.

I think for me Dying and denyin Oneseld is living a life when I become less and less so God can grow bigger and bigger. Denying your personal wants and will for God’s Will. Not easy but with God is possible. I just don;t think that we will totally master this point.

By: Francois Tremblay

Francois Tremblay — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:13:55 +0000

I stumbled upon your blog while looking at the related links for one of my entries. I guess you could say I am a hostile commentator, but I am genuinely curious to know what you mean by “Dying to & Denying Oneself.” It sounds very Buddhist to me, actually. I’ve never heard any Christian propose this as being part of being a Christian. How do you understand it? If you could point me on a blog entry where you describe it, that would be great.

By: joebjr

joebjr — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:23:41 +0000

I’d like to see how we fit in the concept of discipline throughout these lifestyles. Often I make a good start on many of these lifestyles, but fail to build the habit of discipline into the pratices.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:05:21 +0000

For me, the concept of “dying to oneself” is most important. Humility (often in the form of humiliation before God) has been a consistent catalyst for me. Unfortunately, God usually has to humble me by force. It would be a great practice for us to be proactive and humble ourselves…thinking along the lines of Matthew 16:24-25:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

#6 on your list could be: Humility and Dying to Oneself (or denying oneself)