Dying Before Trying

There are two paths in Christian living that lead to frustration, exhaustion, failure, and resignation. The first will have us wearing ourselves down only to find that our own strength is not enough; the second will result in an apathetic of stagnant faith. Many of us find ourselves on one of these two paths--or perhaps even alternating back and forth between the two. On both of these paths the focus is on trying. We think, "to try or not to try--that is the question."

The one whose answer is trying feels a lot of pressure to "do devotionals," attend church every week, pray "x" times a day, go on mission trips, etc. We try-ers are determined to grow, and we'll make it happen by sheer willpower... until one day we find that all of our busyness, all of our trying, isn't enough to catalyze the growth we long for. That's a frustrating, discouraging, humbling day for the try-er. For many that day of realization leads to the conclusion, "If trying isn't the answer, then I'm just done trying."

We not-try-ers have learned to lean on Scripture like Paul's message to the Corinthians: "Only God can make my faith grow." We've finally "realized" that we can rest in Jesus, and we long for the easy yoke of Jesus... except after a while, our resting isn't "in Jesus" at all; it's a decision to manipulate and ignore Scripture  that calls us to commitment in order to excuse a new found laziness that stagnates our growth all together.

So what is the answer then? If the answer isn't trying, and the answer isn't not trying, then what else is there? Perhaps we should look for a middle ground? Maybe we can find a "balance" between trying and not trying? OR maybe we started with the wrong question.

The problem isn't the trying; the problem is that we've started with the wrong question.

When Jesus asks us to follow him, he doesn't call us to a life of trying. Jesus calls us to dying.

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

The cross is a symbol of death. When we put trying before dying, we start down a path that inevitably leads us away from the life Jesus calls us to. When we put dying before trying, Jesus doesn't promise we'll have the nice little life we always dreamed of, but he does promise to give us life to the fullest degree (Ro. 5:17).

Of course, dying without trying is not dying at all. Paul exemplifies this.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20)

Having died to self, Paul no longer places any confidence in the flesh. His righteousness comes from God, and His desire is to know Jesus, but that doesn't mean putting his life on auto-pilot and coasting to the end of his life. No, he strains and presses on, he tries with everything he has, to follow Jesus (Phil. 3). Paul is a slave of Jesus Christ who compares his efforts to those of an athlete in training (1 Cor. 9:24-27). So trying is the answer, but not before dying. Without dying, trying is useless. Until we fully submit ourselves to Christ, no amount of trying will save us, nor will it sanctify us. Grace precedes works. It's dying before trying. Trying isn't an option, but it's also not the beginning of Christian living. We begin with dying.

"To die or not to die. That is the question."