Self Must Die

The last inward enemy of the believer 

To be destroyed is self. 

It dies hard; 

It will make any concession, if only allowed to live.

Self will permit the believer to do anything, 

Bear any crosses, 

Afflict soul or body to any degree—

Anything, if only it can live.

It will allow victory over pride, poverty, and passion, 

If only it is not destroyed. 

It will permit any number of rivals, 

So long as it has first place.

It will consent to live in a hovel, in a garret, 

In the slums, in far-away heathendom—if only it can be spared.

It will endure any garb, any fare, any menial service 

Rather than die. 

Dying to self is a poetic expression;

It sounds romantic, chivalrous, supernatural, saintlike.

It is beautiful to read about, easy to talk about, 

Entertaining to theorize about. Yet it is hard to do. 

But it must be done! There is no abiding peace, 

Spiritual power, or prosperity without it.

We must die to good deeds and to bad deeds, 

To successes and to failures, to superiority 

And to inferiority, 

To exaltation and to humiliation—

To every manifestation of self, and to self itself.

The Saviour said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, 

Will draw all men unto Me.”

Self lifted up repels. Self crucified with Christ draws; 

For only then is Christ lifted up in the yielded life.

Happy those who can say with Paul, 

“I am crucified with Christ . . .

The life which I now live . . .

I live by the faith of the Son of God.”

—Esther Stein, quoted in The Golden Oil by Dorothy Whitney Conklin