Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
John 12:24-25

How do I die?

Jesus showed us in the garden of Gethsemane.  Luke 22:41-44 is very clear:

“And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.  And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

My personal opinion is this moment in the garden was the real death, it says Jesus sweated drops of blood. The agony of dying to what I want, “My hopes, my dreams, my comfort and my identity” is the good death, the real death. And it is first step that must be taken before it leads me on to a life of faith.  Submission is what kills my stubborn will, and then and only then the body will follow.

That is why I think the writer to Hebrews in 12:4 writes, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” It’s in the resisting where the dying occurs.

So when I want to prove myself and how great I am, God says “die!” When the beast inside me wants to look at things I shouldn’t look at, grabs things that are not mine to grab, holds tightly to things that God wants me to give away, God says, “die!” When someone offends me and I want to retaliate, or someone succeeds and envy prompts me to slander, God says, “Chris, come and die.”

So in prayer, I say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done!” This is the real death.

What I have come to realize is that the moment I die, it creates room in my soul for God’s Spirit to finally make himself at home in my life. And what starts happening is a new man is born. The old is gone, the new is birthed, I become a newly begotten child of God. We call this “being born again”

Don’t you see, death is God’s answer for life. It is the only way.