RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

“I die every day!” The great scholars of history may not understand those words, but they are clearly understood by every victorious Christian. The secret to the victorious Christian life is found in those words penned by the apostle Paul some 2,000 years ago. He wrote of this death to not only the believers in Corinth, but also to the followers of Christ in Galatia and Rome. Paul understood that the victorious life was the fruit of the crucified life.
But exactly what did he mean when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die every day”? Paul was speaking about a spiritual reality that many Christians have failed to grasp. This truth unlocks the door of victorious Christian living. It’s the foundation on which victory is built in our lives. It’s the element that gives believers victory over the areas of our lives where we seem to struggle endlessly. Out of the death of Christ came the greatest victory known to mankind: the resurrected life of Christ.
When we come to know Christ, something deeply spiritual takes place in our lives. Our old life dies, and we receive a new life. That’s why Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). At the moment we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior, our lives are eternally and practically transformed.
I once met a group of young people from the Philippines that had come to know Christ. They were traveling throughout Europe, singing and ministering. One of their songs touched my heart, because in its simplicity it gave the testimony of every true follower of Christ: “I’ll never be the same again, oh no. I’ll never be the same again, oh no. Since I met the Lord, I am not the same and I’ll never be the same again.” When Christ comes into our lives, we will never be the same again because our old life has died, and we now have a new life dwelling deep within — the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
Then why do we experience defeat? It’s simply because we try to live in our own power. We must learn to die daily. As we take our position as dead to self, then the Holy Spirit manifests the life of Christ within us. We bear the fruit of the life of Christ. Just as Christ had to die to be resurrected, we must die daily to self to experience the resurrected life of Christ.
Any day I attempt to live the Christian life on my own, I fail miserably. But on the days that I wake up and say to God, “I can’t live the Christian life today. So I die today. I die to my ambitions and desires. I die to my abilities and efforts. I die to my self-centeredness,” — on those days I experience victory. I discover the truth of which Paul wrote: “It’s no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Many years ago, a friend told me he was contemplating suicide. He sat in a church pew weeping. His pastor saw him and asked, “Why are you crying?” My friend said, “I don’t want to live anymore. I want to die.”
The pastor shocked my friend when he said, “Okay, go ahead. Die.”
My friend looked up at the pastor and said, “What do you mean?”
The godly pastor opened the Scriptures to the great truth of dying to self so that Christ can live within us.
My friend died that day. Today he’s a minister of the gospel of Christ. God is using his life wonderfully. He learned the secret to the victorious Christian life. He learned to die — every day.