3 Ways Jesus Showed How to "Die Daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31) - Your Daily Bible Verse - January 15
3 Ways Jesus Showed How To “Die Daily”
By Emily Massey
“I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31)
As Jesus’ disciples, we are called to follow Him. That was Paul’s mission in life – to imitate Christ. And it is what he and the rest of the apostles literally gave their lives to preach to the world through their words and actions. We may not ever get the honor to literally die for Jesus Christ because of our faith in Him, but by God’s grace, we can imitate His selflessness every day.
How do we imitate Christ in our everyday life? Here are three ways Jesus lived a selfless faith on earth.
1. Jesus humbly approached the Father through prayer.
Even though Jesus was God in the flesh, He still leaned upon God the Father for everything He said and did while He walked this earth. Jesus would rise early to pray and seek God for His will for the day.
2. Jesus obediently submitted Himself to the will of the Father.
Each day, we are faced with the temptation to satisfy our flesh and go outside the boundaries of God’s perfect will. We discover what that will is when we read the Bible and study it for ourselves to learn God’s ways. We are not perfect, but thankfully Jesus was, and because of His sacrifice on the cross, we have been given the precious gift of the Holy Spirit as born-again believers.
We read in Luke 22, when Jesus was praying in the garden on the night before His crucifixion, He cried out to the Father: “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22: 42).
At His most desperate hour, He yielded His life to God’s plan, even when it meant that He was going to die a very painful death. Yet, He knew that wasn’t where the story ended; there would be a resurrection.
3. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve others.
Jesus ministered to thousands upon thousands of people during His time here on earth. John 21 tells us that if all the things Jesus did were all written down, the entire world could not contain the books that would be written!
Who is God asking you to serve? What selfish desires do you need to lay aside to put someone else’s life before your own? Are you too busy or too distracted to serve others?
Reflect on today’s verse with us. Share your thoughts in the Your Daily Bible Verse discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Anastasiia Stiahailo
Adapted from “What Did Paul Mean When He Said, “I Die Daily”?”
Related Resource: Praying Through Psalms 60: Victory in Hopeless Ground
What do you do when the battlefield stretches in every direction, and it looks like God Himself brought the defeat?
Join Jaime on the Praying Christian Women Podcast for a devotional on Psalm 60 — a raw, honest lament born out of being surrounded on all sides, where David dares to say You did this, God — and still picks up the banner and calls Him Lord.
Jaime unpacks the historical backdrop of David fighting enemies to the north, east, and south all at once, and shares a breathtaking story from her years near Death Valley — where barren, salt-crusted flats that look permanently dead suddenly erupted into a once-in-a-century bloom of purple wildflowers. Sometimes the victory is already buried right beneath the most hopeless-looking ground, waiting for God's rain to bring it to life. If this episode helps you navigate life with prayer and intention, be sure to follow Praying Christian Women on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
