Part 4: Die To It. Judging Yourself Before God Does
Every Christian knows the feeling when something is off in our walk with God. Maybe it is a habit that has crept back in our relationship we should have cut off months ago. Sometimes it’s bitterness we have been carrying that has quietly turned into a wall between us and God. We feel the conviction and we know what God is asking. But we do nothing about it.
Then something happens, when we realize that what we would not judge in ourselves, God has now started judging for us.
“Die To It” is not just the last option on the list. It is the only response to our sin that actually works. And the only way to get there is to judge ourselves before God has to.
1 Corinthians 11:31 “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”
Typically, if we do the judging on the front end, God does not have to do it on the back end. It is the difference between dealing with our sin privately and letting God deal with it publicly.
The Christian who judges himself does not need to be chastened. The Christian who will not judge himself will be.
What “Die To It” Actually Means
The first three D’s all leave the sin alive:
- Deny It buries it.
- Deflect It hands it to someone else.
- Dress It Up makes it seem not as bad
But the sin is still there in every one of them.
Die To It kills the sin by putting it on the altar. You are cutting it off at the root. And does not let it come back to life.
Galatians 5:24 “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
Romans 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Notice the language Paul uses: Crucified and dead. This is the Christian who is serious about dealing with failure treats the sin the way God treats it: as something to be put to death, not something to be negotiated with.
The Four Steps of Judging Yourself
Real self judgment is an action. Here is what it looks like in real life:
1. Name the sin the way God names it.
Call it what Scripture calls it. If God calls it pride, you call it pride. If He calls it bitterness, you call it bitterness. The confession must match the definition.
2. Own it fully.
No blaming or excuses. It was you. Not your spouse, boss, childhood, or your stress. You did it and you are responsible.
3. Turn from it completely.
If it is a habit, cut it off. If it is a relationship, end it. If it is an input, remove it. You might need to build some walls in your life to protect yourself from going around it. Whatever it takes because if you can’t cut it off, it will continue to kill you.
4. Restore what you can.
Zacchaeus climbed down from the tree and paid back four times what he stole. Where our sin has done damage, we must make it right. Where we have wronged someone, we go to them to say we sorry. Where we have taken something, we return it.
Why We Avoid Judging Ourselves
If self judgment is the only response that works, why do so few Christians ever actually do it?
* Self-judgment costs us our self-image. We have to admit we are the problem.
* Self-judgment costs us the story we have been telling ourselves. The one where we were the victim.
* Self-judgment usually means we have to make something right with someone.
* Self-judgment exposes what we have been protecting. The pride, the comfort, the lie, etc.
* Self-judgment demands that something in our life change. And most would rather feel bad about a sin than change because of it.
Take a minute and be honest. Look at the failure you are currently carrying and avoiding dealing with. Which of the four D’s have you been using on it?
Have you been denying it, pretending it did not happen?
Have you been deflecting it, blaming the people around you?
Have you been dressing it up, feeling bad about it without ever changing?
Or have you actually died to it?
Every Christian will fail. What we do with the failure is what determines whether we grow, whether we stay stuck, or whether we drift away entirely.
The just man falls seven times. But he rises.
Judge yourself. Before God has to.
