The believer's last intimate enemy to be destroyed

Is the self.

It dies hard;

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

The self allows the believer to do anything,

Bear any cross,

Afflict body and soul to the maximum intensity

Anything, if only it can live.

It allows victory over pride, poverty, and passion,

If only it is not destroyed.

It allows any number of rivals,

As long as it holds the first place.

It consents to live in a hut, or attic,

In a slum, in a pagan world – if only it can be spared.

It endures any attire, any food, any humble service

So as not to die.

To die to the self is a poetic expression;

It sounds romantic, noble, supernatural, holy.

It is beautiful to read, easy to speak,

Fun to theorize about. Yet it is difficult to do.

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

spiritual power, or prosperity without it.

We must die to good works and bad works,

To success and failure,

To superiority and inferiority,

To exaltation and humiliation –

To every manifestation of self, and to self itself.

The Savior said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,

Will draw all people to Myself.”

The lifted-up self repels. The self crucified with Christ attracts;

For it is only then that Christ is lifted up in the surrendered life.

Blessed are those who can say with Paul,

“I have been crucified with Christ…

The life I now live…

I live by faith in the Son of God.”

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

Translated by Rute Bazan

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