Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (John 12: 23-26)
If anyone is like me, they will love Jesus’ parallels in the bible. He explained things so well using symbolism and was able to get his words of life across so much easier using analogies. The scripture quoted above is one that is very well-known. The one about those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life will gain it. Whenever I hear this verse, I usually do a self-check to see where my life is when it comes to this verse, and if I truly love it, or if I allow myself, or flesh to die regularly, so that I can truly live unto Him. It is definitely one of those verses that always challenges me and stretches me to the core. Jesus compared our life, to the kernel of wheat that dies and is just a seed. Further, He explains that IF it dies, it will THEN produce many seeds. I remember these conditional phrases back in school days. IF we die to our self, THEN we can live. I believe Jesus is talking about the fleshly, worldly desires that don’t produce life. If we die to our life, seeds, or fruit in Him have room to grow.
For some, this might be a little bit confusing, but for others, through experience, this scripture will ring true in their life as they grasp the concept of denial or death to self. Unfortunately, being self-centered is inherent in everyone, and it takes work and time to die to self, so that they learn how to truly live in Him. Let me give you some examples for those that are still trying to understand. When I was sick with lyme disease, I had real symptoms that affected a lot of different parts of my body. Because I had a baby and toddler at the time, I didn’t have time to focus on myself and just just lay in bed and rest to get better. Now, of course practically I had to take care of a baby and toddler, but in order to be able to do that, I had to focus on Jesus, and not my circumstance. I could sit there and focus on how much my back was hurting, or how dizzy I was, or weak, or the chills in my brain, etc. OR, I could worship Jesus, meditate on His word, and continually pray to get my eyes fixed on Him, and not myself. This took time, because in the beginning of the illness, it was not easy to do that. Through time, trust, repentance, obedience, surrender, and most importantly, relationship, the transition of self to Jesus became more effortless, because He gave me the strength to do it and He also healed me physically.
There are many different ways we can die to ourselves so that we can find life in Him. Maybe it is more practical, like giving up an “american dream” lifestyle to become a missionary in a third world country. Maybe it’s doing a fast. It could look like giving a lot of money away, or possessions. It could be fostering, or adopting a child, serving in an area that isn’t something you love to do. It could be giving up something we want, to ultimately serve God. Some decisions can be big, others small, but generally, surrender and obedience is the key to dying to self. These examples are only scratching the surface, there are a million different ways we can “die” to self, but relationship with God is really the key because He knows our heart and what draws us away from Him, and near Him. He might ask one of His children to do something specific, that He wouldn’t ask another child the same. I remember this amazing testimony back a few years ago, when we gave up a good job after a decade, to serve in missions. We never raised our full budget, and left the country in faith that God would provide everything we needed. We didn’t have extra money to buy things, especially new things. I will end this blog with these encouraging video’s. I hope God moves you to die to self, so that your life will bear many seeds!
Here is a video we made when we were on the recipient end of someone else’s obedience to God. It involved three different people not knowing each others’ situation is so beautiful when people listen to the voice of God, and obey. I hope you are encouraged by the video, and laugh at the second one!
