这几天的讨论带出了一个主要的讯息，那就是：我们愈是害怕向私欲死，我们的基督徒生命便愈是结不出果子。让我们再次来提醒自己：「一粒麦子不落在地里死了，仍旧是一粒，若是死了，就结出许多子粒来」（约十二24）。这虽然是知易行难，不过这只是困难一点，并非不可能的事。

今天我们要问一问自己：当我们向自我「死」时情况究竟会怎样呢？是否表示「自我」在经历毁灭？不是的。我们蒙召所经历的死是指我们虚假生命的死、虚假观念的死、罪和邪恶世界的死，以及那因自我中心所构成的虚假自我的死。保罗说：「我已经与基督同钉十字架」，表示他除了基督的目标外，已经向生命中所有自我的目标死去，今天的整段经文讲述保罗的埋葬和复活，是新约其中一段最发人深省的经文。

保罗继续说：「现在活着的不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着。」保罗发现当他追求神而不是追求自己的人生目标时，生命就变得更积极和有力。他与基督一起，比与单靠自己更好。你可能需要一点时间去思想这一点，但事实是，如果你不与神一起生活，你就不能与自己和谐地生活，也不能与任何人和谐地生活。

If there is one note ringing through these pages, it is this: to the extent that we are afraid to die to our self-interest, to that extent will our Christian lives be unfruitful. We remind ourselves again: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain, never becomes more but lives by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest" (John 12:24, Amplified Bible). It is easy to say but difficult to put into practice - difficult but not impossible.

Today we ask ourselves: What exactly happens when we "die" to self? Does it mean that the "self" undergoes annihilation? No. The death to which we are called is the death of the false life we have been living, the false ideas and values we have set up, the false world of sin and evil, and the false self, organised around self-concern. When Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ", he meant that he had died to all the purposes in his life except Christ's purposes

This whole passage telling of Paul's burial and resurrection is one of the most exciting in the New Testament. He goes on to say: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Paul discovered that life was much more positive and powerful when he pursued God's purposes rather than his own purposes. He got on better with Christ than he did with himself. This may take some thinking through, but the truth is, if you won't live with God, you won't be able to live harmoniously with yourself - nor, for that matter, with anyone else.