Self-Abandonment

We don’t repair the broken vessel—we receive the new one, alive in Christ.

Devotional Credit: Abide Above
Photo Credit: Unsplash

Today’s entry from Abide Above shines a light on the futility of self-improvement and the glorious truth of our co-crucifixion with Christ. Miles Stanford draws a sharp contrast between religious systems built on refining the flesh and the liberating gospel that calls us to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God through Christ.

Attempts to cultivate or correct the crucified old man—no matter how noble—are not only ineffective but contrary to the cross. They amount to digging through the ruins of a condemned building hoping to make it livable again. The Cross is not a renovation project. It’s a burial ground for the old self and a birthplace for resurrection life.

God is not interested in improving the flesh but in exchanging it. He doesn't call us to labor in the morass of self-effort but to rest in the life of His Son. The reckoning of Romans 6:11 is not wishful thinking—it is aligning our hearts with what is already true: we died, and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. As we abandon the hope of reforming the self, we discover the joy of being fully abandoned to Him.

✍🏼 Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture

I did not call you to patch up the old man or to tame his impulses. I placed him on the Cross with My Son—crucified once and for all. When I raised Christ from the dead, I made you alive together with Him. You are no longer in Adam but in Me.

Your old self cannot be cultivated. It is like a decaying field that yields only thorns. So I called you to let go—not to fix, not to manage, but to reckon dead what I have already buried. Every attempt to improve what I have crucified only hinders your joy.

I am not asking you to monitor your flesh. I am asking you to fix your eyes on Jesus. The more you behold Him, the more you will forget yourself. Self-awareness fades in the light of My presence. As you abide, I live. As you rest, I work. You do not need to try to become righteous—I have already made you My righteousness in Christ.

Cease striving to impress Me with your goodness. I delight in your surrender. I delight in your dependence. And I delight to live My life through you.

Romans 6:6–11, Galatians 6:14, Colossians 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21

🧺 Real-Life Analogy

Trying to improve your old self is like attempting to fill a cracked cup with water. No matter how steady your hand, the water will always leak out. But when you set that cup aside and receive the vessel I’ve already prepared—whole, clean, and new—you can finally drink deeply and overflow.

🙏🏼 Prayer of Confidence

Father, thank You that I no longer have to fix or manage what You have already crucified. I rejoice that my old self has been buried with Christ and that the life I now live is Yours, not mine. I trust that every moment I yield, You express Your perfect life through me. I abandon all attempts to reform what You’ve replaced and rest in the truth that You are my life. Christ is enough—and He lives in me.