Can a Saved man choose to be Lost?

[truthlover]

Dying to self, via taking up your "cross" or implement of crucifixion, daily, is something to ask God about. One's own choice of a means to self-death must be the first to go. But what we can do is what out Lord did, beg to be spared in the hope of at least receiving the peace that passes understanding, and in that peace, releasing God to carry on with His will.

Then there is the seeking of His face. He told me to die to self by looking through the darkened glass at Him, in the darkened mirror at myself. No one can look on the Lord and live. And seeing oneself at the limits of what we can bear takes the sting out of our death. So I come to "Christ in me, the hope of glory." Little sacks of Jesus, as you put it. He said that I was His idea in the first place, and the manifestation of Him in the dead me is the me He had in mind and wanted in that first place.

Now, dead men tell no tales, nor perform many duties. But, dying to self and being dead to self are different too. There are duties to perform in the dying, mostly bridleing the tongue. "By your words..." Saved and condemned. Not muzzleing, bridleing! We confess unto salvation, finding His words, and honestly speaking them with Him, confessing them, making testimonies that overcome evil, declarations that establish our choices. His spoken words created everything He chose; ours create our choices.

I haven't found this process to ever end. I was dead in my sins, I have died to myself, and yet today, there was another cross.