"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Romans 8:13 Galatians 2:20 Philippians 3:8-12

I have been wrestling with this notion of dying to self. It is a struggle that has been in me since high school. But recently it has been more severe as I struggle through raising a family, planting a church, walking through hard times with friends and preaching Galatians.

Then I read this quote today on a friends blog and I cannot get past the line, "narrow confines of his individualistic concerns..." I do not have to look to hard at myself to see a desire to satisfy myself. That is the root of sin, a mistaken idea that somehow I am better at pleasing myself than God is, I am better and giving myself pleasure than God is.

My prayer is this, "God would you give me whatever I need to crucify my flesh, to look beyond myself and to the needs of others? Would you remind of that every day?"