"Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die to get there!" BB King
This is true in a general sense, but not just in the physical sense. It's not only that we don't want to die physically, even if the result is heaven, but that we don't want to die spiritually, even though that is the only way to get to heaven. The only way to the Father is through the Son, who said to follow Him we must deny ourself, pick up our cross (a death sentence) and follow him. He went on to say that those who try to save and hold onto their life would lose it but that those who would give up their life to Him and for Him would gain true and everlasting life. It's a paradox, but it's true, it's death that brings life and without death there is no life. It would be no sacrifice to die to self if we weren't driven to live for self. It would be easy and wouldn't require grace. But there is a reason that fighting to stay alive is referred to as self preservation. It's instinctual and the way that we are made to live for self and try to keep self alive and in the center. But it's also instinctual to need relationship with God and to respond to the ache and emptiness of our lives by finding a way to fill it. The way to fill the space that is missing in our self is to let self die and let God fill us completely with Himself and relationship with Him. You have to die to get life, and you'd be better off dead.
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