A Good Day to Die?

In the hit movie, Shawshank Redemption, the old convict Red makes the statement at the end, "Get busy living or get busy dying."  He makes reference to how the old prison (Shawshank) had taken much of his life and that when he was finally receiving parole after 50 years, it just became difficult to imagine any other life but the "institutionalized" routine of the state joint.  He had a choice to stay on parole or make a run to join his friend Andy who had broken free months before and was hiding away in some tropical Mexican paradise.

Contrary to what many perceive as living and dying, real life is found in death.  Jesus died so that we might live. (John 3:16) But he also lives so that we might die.  The Apostle Paul writes in his Epistle to the Galatian church in chapter 2 verse 20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

In the essence of Jesus Christ, to get busy living is to first get busy dying.  What areas of your life need to die so that Christ may live in and through you?  What attitudes, habits, thought patterns, anxieties, etc., need to be put to death so that Christ may be glorified in you? In addition, Jesus demonstrates and Paul reiterates that selfless, sacrificial service leads to life.

Is today is a good day to die?