🧭 Leaving the Self-life Behind

The way forward is narrow, but not burdensome—when we leave self behind, we pass freely into fullness.

📚 Devotional Credit: Open Windows by T. Austin-Sparks
📸 Photo Credit: Unsplash

Growth into the fullness of Christ doesn’t stall because we lack information or opportunity—it stalls when remnants of the old self quietly take center stage again. T. Austin-Sparks draws our attention to a subtle but powerful truth: many faithful believers who began their walk in surrender have found themselves arrested in spiritual growth, not due to ignorance, but due to unyielded areas of the soul. Perhaps an old mindset resurfaced, or an uncrucified desire asserted itself. However it happens, the result is the same—they’ve reached a standstill.

But the solution is not another death or deeper effort. It’s an acknowledgment: we have already died with Christ. The old creation, with its habits and claims, has no rightful place in this new Life. To accept our co-death with Christ isn’t just a theological idea—it is the practical release from trying to bring the old man into the new and living way. Sparks points out that spiritual immaturity often results from clinging to these remnants, instead of reckoning them gone.

The call isn’t to die again, but to believe we already have—decisively and finally—in Christ. We must accept the narrowness of the path: there is no room for the residual patterns of the crucified old man. Christ didn’t come to improve us; He came to replace us. To “go on to full growth,” as the writer of Hebrews exhorts, is to walk in the settled reality of Christ as our only Life.

This is not a call to introspection but to release. The Spirit isn’t trying to expose us to condemn, but to gently remove all that stands in the way of the Son’s expression through us. What we yield, He fills. What we let go, He replaces. It’s not about dying again—it’s about no longer dragging a corpse down a living road.

📓 Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture

I have already placed you in Christ, complete and made new. You are not meant to revisit the grave but to live from resurrection. When you sense frustration or dryness, do not assume you must strive harder—pause instead, and see if you have picked up something I already buried.

The old thoughts, the preferences, the subtle desires for control or recognition—these are echoes of a life that ended. They do not belong in this journey forward. You are not bound by them unless you carry them. Let them go, not with shame, but with confidence that I have something better: the Life of My Son revealed through you.

Every moment is an invitation to grow into Him who is the Head. Growth happens not through effort, but through abiding—through staying where I have already placed you. You are destined for fullness in Christ. Don’t settle for foundations when the entire house has been given to you. Trust Me to clear the way. Trust Me to be your way.

Scripture References: Ephesians 4:15; Hebrews 6:1–2; Romans 6:1–14; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:1–4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:12–14; John 15:5; Romans 7:6; Hebrews 10:19–22

🪟 Real-Life Analogy

It’s like trying to walk through a narrow turnstile at a subway station while wearing a heavy backpack slung behind you. No matter how badly you want to move forward, the backpack keeps catching, holding you back. You must take it off—not out of shame, but simply because the way is too narrow for excess baggage.

So too, in our daily walk, when irritation rises during a meeting or an old habit sneaks into our response to someone close, we can pause—not to analyze ourselves—but to simply say, “Lord, this isn’t who I am in You. I trust You to live Your patience and kindness through me right now.” Let the Holy Spirit respond instead of dragging the patterns of the old self into the moment. That’s the way forward.

🙏 Prayer of Confidence

Father, I thank You that I don’t have to wrestle the old self into submission. It’s already been crucified with Christ. You’ve given me a new way of living, not based on striving but on trusting. Today, I rest in the truth that You’ve already done the work. I joyfully lay aside anything that no longer belongs and yield to Your Spirit to express the Life of Jesus in every step. There is nothing to earn—only everything to receive and walk in