Give Up On Yourself

I wonder how many times you've said, "I give up!" Probably a lot. But how many times have you said, "I give up on myself!" Believe it or not, that's what I'm going to encourage you to do-give up on yourself.

Actually it's a biblical principle that can truly set us free when we are willing to apply it to our lives. Give up on yourself! In a world that teaches us to fulfill ourselves, actualize ourselves, pamper ourselves, and generally please ourselves, it probably sounds very strange to hear someone say "Give up on yourself!" But I truly believe that when you see this from the Bible's perspective, you'll understand why I'm encouraging you to give up on yourself.

Now, let me begin by saying that this biblical principle applies to those who have been born from above, who have received new life in Christ and are a part of God's family. We should remember that does not include everyone who goes to church or even everyone who calls himself or herself a Christian. We know from Scripture that in order to be born from above, a person must come face to face with their own sin problem, confess their sins, and accept the redemption that Jesus purchased for us when He died and rose again. Then we are saved by grace through faith, and it is a gift from God to us.

So, if you are certain that you have been made a new creation in Christ, according to the Bible's definition, then you are indeed part of God's family. You are a Christian. And it is to you who are Christians that I say, "Give up on yourself!

"Why would I say such a ridiculous thing? Listen to these verses from Colossians 3:Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.You died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. The old you that you were before you placed your trust in Jesus Christ died. That's why I'm telling you to give up on yourself-on that old you. It's dead! No need trying to revive it or dress it up or make it feel good or give it good self-esteem. It is dead!

In Galatians 2:20 we read:I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.The Apostle Paul was able to grasp this paradoxical truth, and it applies not only to him or to other great Christians, it is a truth for all of us. When we become new creations in Christ, the old has passed, the new has come. That old you no longer lives, because Christ lives in you.Is your head spinning as you try to understand this? What does it mean that the old me no longer lives? I'm still here in the same body, and unfortunately doing some of the same dumb things I used to do before I was crucified with Christ. I still find myself envious and greedy and selfish and prideful. If the old me has died, why do I still fight these battles?Paul faced that dilemma as well.

In Romans 7 he writes:I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:18-25).

Here's the truth that we find difficult to grasp: The old me died with Christ on the cross and my new life is now Christ living in me. This is my position as a believer in Jesus Christ. The old me-the one who was born in sin, the one born in Adam, as the Bible puts it-is dead and the sins which condemned me and kept me from having a relationship with the Holy God are now washed clean and are remembered no more against me. When God sees me now, He sees my new position in Christ; therefore, I am acceptable to God.

Romans 5:12 tells us that "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin." That one man is Adam, and before you were "in Christ," you were "in Adam." We are all sinners because we are all born with a sin nature. We sin because we are sinners, not vice versa. We were born "in Adam" and that means we are all sinners. The Bible is clear about the condition of this old person. We are by nature children of wrath, dead in trespasses and sins, "gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts" (Ephesians 2:3)

Even at our best, not one of us does good in the old person. We have all gone astray. In a world gone crazy with "finding ourselves," C. S. Lewis writes: "Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay." That's where we must begin if we are ever to give up on ourselves. Recognize that finding the old you is finding trouble. Admit that the old you is your problem. Don't defend it any longer; don't try to cover it up. You share the same sad condition with the rest of humanity; we are all in and of ourselves miserable, degraded people.This is why it is so useless-in fact, harmful-to focus your energy on feeling good about that old you. Underneath the nice clothes you can put on and the good education you can get and the big money you can earn and the power positions you can attain is still the old you, and you are dead in trespasses and sin! Good self-esteem is an oxymoron. How can you feel good about something that is basically dead in sin?If you will note, the Apostle Paul had nothing good to say about his old person.

As we saw in Romans 7, he was pretty down on that old Paul. To the Corinthians he wrote that when he was weak, then he was strong. He called himself the "chief of sinners." This was not a man who boasted about his accomplishments or his gifts.But this is the man who said:I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13). In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:37).God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).For he chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:4). Was Paul unbalanced or a little off the deep end? No, Paul came to understand this incredible truth of being dead to the old person and alive unto Christ. Notice he wrote that God chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight. In God's sight we are in Christ and therefore we are holy and blameless. That's what we have to be in order to have fellowship with a holy God, and He made it possible by sending His Son to die and pay the price for our sin as a perfect sacrifice.Now, here's the good news. This new person, which we are when we are born from above, is in Christ, and God sees us not only crucified with Christ, but risen with Christ. That's why Paul said, "Nevertheless I live." I'm crucified with Christ-the old me. But the new creation I have become lives in Christ. It is the Christ-life living in me and through me-that's how God sees us. He sees us risen and ascended with Christ, seated with Him in the heavenly realms. That's where Jesus is now, in the heavenly realms with God the Father. Then since we are "in Christ," we are there, too, as God sees us. Now, how does this all work out for daily living? God sees me in Christ, in the heavenlies, but I wake up each morning and put my feet on this earth, face the trials of everyday life, deal with people I'm not particularly fond of, and struggle with life on this planet. Doesn't look like heavenly realms to me!

It doesn't work out as long as I'm facing everyday life in the power of the old me. So many Christians are doing that. Yes, they've become new creations in Christ but they don't understand or live in that power. They were saved by grace through faith but they're trying to live by works! Are you trying to build your self-image upon what God has done for you, trying to be a really good Christian so you can feel good about yourself? That is still the old self-life, because your focus is on you.

Here is what Paul teaches us: You are dead! That old you in dead.But the new you is righteous in Christ. You are righteous because God has credited you with the righteousness of Jesus. The new you is perfect because you are in Christ and Christ is perfect. If you aren't, you can't see God or go to heaven, because nothing unholy can enter into God's presence. God has declared us perfect in Christ Jesus and has already seated us in heavenly places. Christ is our righteousness.So, in our daily life here on earth, what we must learn to do is live in this new reality. We must give up on ourselves and begin to let the Christ life in us live through us. We've got to forget about ourselves, accept that we are dead, and focus on new life in Christ. Paul wrote: Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:1-5).

We are living in the "meanwhile" of verse two. Meanwhile, between this time while we're still clothed in this earthly tent and the time when our bodies will be in the heavenly dwelling, we groan and are burdened. But God has given us the Spirit as a deposit, so we know that this is not the way it's always going to be. Someday we're going to be rid of this earthly tent and all the problems it brings.Until then, our challenge is to forget the old us and focus on Christ, who is our life. We must give up on ourselves and find our total identity in Christ. Paul wrote, For to me, to live is Christ! (Philippians 1:21). He was alive, he said, yet not him, but Christ who lived in him. This is the paradox of the true Christian life that few of us have ever understood or accepted.What many of us do is to confuse our identity in Christ with our human life, the old us. We know what we're supposed to be like as a Christian, and we try to impose those standards on ourselves, but we fail often. So we live in lots of guilt, feeling like a failure as a Christian. Give up on yourself! The old you is never going to measure up. Instead focus on Jesus; He is all you need. You are in Him, and that gives you a new identity. His Spirit dwells in you and that gives you a new life. You live in a new place-the heavenly realms. You speak a new language-the language of love. You have new ambitions-to please God and bring glory to Jesus Christ.

Maybe you're wondering how this applies to your daily life, to your workplace, your job. Well, it is foundational to every part of our lives as believers and until we "get it," we'll find struggles in every area of our lives.