Death as the Path to Life: Dying to Self, Living to God

Sunday Awe

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25).

Our natural tendency is to save what we have. We do everything we can to hold on to our life, but Jesus is telling us that when we grasp onto our life, we will ultimately lose it. Rather, if we want to truly experience life, we must let go of what we think is life.

This is the paradox of the spiritual life: one must die to live. We view death as the end of life. However, the kind of death Jesus is referring to is not just an end—it is a beginning. The paradox is that in letting go, we receive; in dying, we are born again; in surrendering the self, we awaken to the life of God.

Dying to self is not about erasing our identity or rejecting our humanity. Rather, it is about releasing the false self. The false self is the identity we constructed of ourselves apart from God. This self is shaped by fear, ego, and the need to prove our worth. It clings to control, status, image, achievement, and approval from others. Yet, if we strive to maintain this life, we will end up with a bankrupt soul, losing it all.

We have to choose to surrender. If we do not voluntarily let go, this inner dying often comes through crisis or hardship. It might be the death of pride through failure or the death of control due to an accident or illness. These deaths are rarely easy, but they are necessary.

Dying to the false self allows the true self to emerge. Our true self is that part of us made in the image of God, and it is whole and well. It is the Divine life within us—life shaped not by ego or fear, but by love. Living to God means allowing the Christ Spirit to live in us, through us, and as us. It is a life of divine alignment, where our desires are reshaped, our wounds healed, and our purpose reoriented toward loving our neighbor.

This is not a one-time event but a continual process. We must die daily—through forgiveness, humility, and letting go—and we rise daily into new life and joy, even in the midst of pain. Paul wrote, “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed, always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NET)

The spiritual journey is not about self-improvement; it is about self-surrender. And in that surrender, we discover that the more we let go of ourselves – our false self – the more fully we become who we truly are—alive in God, alive in love, alive in the deepest and most enduring sense. This is the death that leads to life.

Monday Awe: The Inner Death

• St. Paul: “I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31, NIV)
• St. John of the Cross: “To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.” (Sayings of Light and Love)
• Meister Eckhart: “The soul grows by subtraction, not addition.” (Sermons)
• Benedicta Ward: “To follow Christ is to leave the self behind.” (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers)
• Romans 6:6: “Our old self was crucified with him… that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: What in your life needs to die so that you may live more fully in God?

Action to Take: Spend time in silence reflecting on one aspect of yourself you need to surrender.

Tuesday Awe: Letting Go of the False Self

• Thomas Merton: “The false self can never be at peace, for it is a shadow.” (New Seeds of Contemplation)
• St. Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” (Confessions)
• Anthony de Mello: “The false self lives on fear, the true self lives in freedom.” (Awareness)
• Eckhart Tolle: “Die before you die, and find there is no death.” (The Power of Now)
• Ephesians 4:22: “Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: How is your false self preventing you from resting in God?

Action to Take: Write down one fear or ego-driven trait you can release today.

Wednesday Awe: Dying to Live

• St. Francis of Assisi: “It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” (Peace Prayer)
• Simone Weil: “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” (Gravity and Grace)
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” (The Cost of Discipleship)
• Plotinus: “Withdraw into yourself and look.” (The Enneads)
• Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: What does it mean for you to live as someone who has died with Christ?

Action to Take: Meditate on Galatians 2:20 and what it calls you to let go of.

Thursday Awe: Finding the True Self

• Julian of Norwich: “Our true self is rooted in God’s love, eternal and unshakable.” (Revelations of Divine Love)
• St. Teresa of Ávila: “The soul is like a garden in which the Lord takes his delight.” (Interior Castle)
• Thomas Merton: “To find the true self is to lose the self in God.” (New Seeds of Contemplation)
• Rumi: “Try to become the one in whose presence nothing is false.” (The Essential Rumi)
• Gospel of Thomas 3: “When you know yourselves, then you will be known.” (Gospel of Thomas)
• Colossians 3:3: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: Where in your life have you glimpsed your true self?

Action to Take: Ask God to reveal one way to live more authentically in Him.

Friday Awe: Living to God

• John Chrysostom: “Let us show forth our resurrection in our life.” (Homilies)
• Irenaeus: “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” (Against Heresies)
• Brother Lawrence: “We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God.” (The Practice of the Presence of God)
• St. Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” (Letters)
• Tao Te Ching 16: “Returning is the movement of the Tao.” (Tao Te Ching)
• Romans 6:11: “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: How can you embody God’s life in your daily life?

Action to Take: Choose one ordinary task today to offer as an act of devotion.

Saturday Awe: Death as the Path to Life: Dying to Self, Living to God

• Meister Eckhart: “The soul grows by subtraction, not addition.” (Sermons)
• Eckhart Tolle: “Die before you die, and find there is no death.” (The Power of Now)
• Thomas Merton: “To find the true self is to lose the self in God.” (New Seeds of Contemplation)
• St. Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” (Letters)
• Colossians 3:3: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (NIV)

Question to Ponder: What does it mean to grow by subtraction, not addition?

Action to Take: Think of a difficult person in your life and give them something of yourself today or in the next few days.