Death Of A Seed

Verse of the day: John 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

Our God is truly amazing. When we stop and think of how He brings forth life, I am left in awe. A healthy seed must first die before life can be brought forth. The seed, in and of itself, cannot bring forth life, lest it is watered, and God produce life from it. So we could not bring forth eternal life, in and of ourselves. Hence, we celebrate the coming of God's Son, Jesus, who was born into this world for the express purpose of dying, so that we could have life eternal. Today, as born again believers, we are told that in order to produce fruit in our lives we must be willing to die. We are called to take up our cross, and follow Jesus (Matt 16:24, Lk 14:27). If we expect that God will use us greatly for the sake of the Gospel, we must be willing to die to our selfish desires, and wants. We must be willing to die to the world, and its pleasures. This means that we may have to rearrange our schedules, or change our plans, in order to serve God, by making ourselves available to serve others (usually during the most inconvenient time for us). I can imagine how often we have probably missed out on a great blessing, and heavenly reward, because we refused to change, or adjust our plans in order to be there for someone who really needed help. Just recently we had to make several adjustments in our plans in order for my wife to be there for an unsaved friend. As a result of a willingness to die to ourselves, and what we wanted to do, my wife was able to lead this friend to Jesus! Only after a true willingness to die will Jesus be able to produce real, lasting, fruit in our lives. Only when we are willing to die to our way of thinking, and our attitudes, will the Holy Spirit be able to produce His fruit in our lives. As we look forward to Christmas Day, let us reflect on the greatest example set for us by One who died in order to bring forth much fruit. We are the fruit of His death, and now we are called to be like Him, and like that grain of wheat, we must die, for Jesus' sake, so that other will be led to Him, and have the opportunity to truly live.