John 12: 24
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
No one wants to die but if we die to Jesus, giving him our lives, then we are born anew of incorruptible seed which bears much fruit.
Jesus was talking about giving up his life, dying, so that he might bear much fruit. Only through death does the wheat generate new life. So it is with us. When we lay down our lives God creates a new life with that seed. We are reborn in the image of Christ. This is not, however, primarily a salvation message unless you embrace the full definition of salvation. When Jesus speaks of salvation he means saving grace in absolutely every area of our lives, in every aspect of human experience.
Paul wrote about this need to lay down our lives and live to Christ. He said “In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 4: 22, 24). You see, there must be a continual surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. We must continually bury our self-induced desires and put on the mantle of Christ. In other words, this dying to self is, at least for most of us, a continuing process. Few people have the ability to once and for all give everything to Christ. Typically we grow in our spiritual life and as we do we find things which we are ready to release to him. The central theme is that we must crucify this flesh which seeks only to indulge self. It seeks to satisfy and promote the ego. When, however, we take on the crucifixion of our Lord, we bury the selfish desires and live unto him. We seek to honor and promote him. The only way to do this, though, is to die. And when we do, he raises us anew. Each time we bury a self-oriented aspect of our personalities he raises up a glorified version. Then there is no more striving for then we can truly walk in his grace. Our eyes become fixed on him and we live in him.
This may sound mystical and other worldly but it really is as simple as taking our eyes off of ourselves. We may notice how often we use the pronoun “I” and surrender those areas to our Christ. We may notice when our vision is full of ourselves instead of on the kingdom and pray for help in crucifying the carnal person. The key is that when we die, we live. Everything that we bury, Jesus resurrects in new and glorious life. We never lose anything. We gain everything.
Please search your heart today. Is your energy spent satisfying your needs and desires or are you truly devoted to Christ today? Is he your focus and desire? Is your work dedicated to him, your leisure, your home life, your thought life? Are your songs a testimony to him? How about the words you speak? I am not saying that you cannot have anything for yourself. I am only saying for you to let him give them to you instead of you seeking them.
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