06/05/2023
DYING TO SELF
By Bill Britton
When you are forgotten or neglected
Or purposely set at naught
And you don’t sting and hurt
With the insult or the oversight,
But your heart is happy,
Being counted worthy to suffer for Christ,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
When your good is evil spoken of;
When your wishes are crossed,
Your opinions ridiculed
And you refuse to let anger rise in your heart
Or even defend yourself
But take it all in patient loving silence,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder,
Any irregularity, any impunctuality or any annoyance;
When you can stand face to face with waste,
Folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility
And endure it as Jesus endured it,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
When you are content with any food,
Any offering, any raiment, any climate,
Any society, any solitude,
Any interruption by the will of God,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
When you never care
To refer to yourself in conversation,
Or itch after commendation,
When you can love to be unknown,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
When you can see your brother prosper
And have his needs met
And can honestly rejoice with him in spirit
And feel no envy nor question God
While your own needs are far greater
And in desperate circumstances,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
When you can receive correction and reproof
From one of less stature than yourself
And can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly,
Finding no rebellion or resentment rising up
Within your heart,
THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
(Bill Britton, “Dethrone the King: Dying to Self,” The Heartbeat of the Remnant, July/August, 2002, 19)