Unless a Seed Dies

Week Nine

Unless a Seed Dies

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, 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. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his 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. Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” John 12:23-28.

The only way that we could ever experience eternal life was for Jesus Christ to die. As long as he was living on the earth and walking among men he was able to do mighty acts under the power of the Holy Spirit. But he was a man and could only be in one place at a time. It was only in his dying that the Holy Spirit was able to dwell in men who believed in him and bring eternal life to each person on earth who believed. This Holy Spirit enabled God to be wherever men and women of faith were. The seed, Jesus Christ, died so that he could produce more seeds to accomplish more for the Father and the kingdom of God.

We also can accomplish much for the kingdom when we die to self and live for Christ, the resurrected Lord of the universe. It is the dying to self that is difficult for us. We want to be our own bosses, we like to think that we know what is best for ourselves and others and many times refuse to live for God.

When we finally understand that we are kingdom people, we are all working for the common good of mankind, that God wants to direct our paths, then we can surrender to his will and our seed will die. In so doing, we will grow into trees of righteousness and produce much fruit for God. We become more and more what God created us to be and less and less what we think we ought to be.

This is a process, it is a daily surrendering of ourselves to God. I used to think it was a one time deal, we surrender and then just go on our own ways again. It begins like that, but it needs to be a daily dying to self. The more we practice doing this, the easier it becomes. The more we see God working through us, the more we want him to work through us again and again. The more we realize that we are not in control, the more we want to give the control to him.

Jesus knew that the Father had mens' best interest in mind and he knew that unless he died on that cross, men would forever be lost. Remember when Jesus told his disciples to take up their cross daily and follow him? He was speaking to us, the cross is a reminder to daily die to our own selfish desires and do the things that Christ would do.

The WWJD (what would Jesus do) bracelets are a reminder to think about the situations that we face daily and decide what Jesus would do, then we can respond to those situations in our lives, living as Christ would, being obedient to the Father.

Jesus even asked to be delivered from his hour of dying, but in obedience, he knew what God had asked him to do and that he had to go through the pain, endure the hardship, but on the other side of the cross was eternal life.

When we are seeking God’s will, when we truly want to be Christlike, we will hear God tell us what to do. Most days it may be very small little things, other days it may be a big leap of faith, but no matter what he asks us to do, it is a promise that some fruit will be the result. We may not see the fruit of our obedience in this life, but sometimes he lets us see the results of our dying to self.

Years ago God placed on my heart to share the gospel with my sister-in-law, Mary. It was difficult to do because it meant that I had to die to myself, become Christ to her and tell her about how much God loves her. (My personal belief is that is it is harder to minister to family members than total strangers). I would send her devotional books and ask that she read them along with me each day.

Her only response at the time, was that she did not want to give up her friends and her lifestyle to follow God. I continued to pray for her, but stopped pushing the issue. A few years ago, she shared with my husband and myself that she has been born again. She said now I know what you were trying to tell me years ago. The seed was planted, but it was up to God to plow and fertilize her heart to be able to see that seed sprout. Mary has gone on to be with the Lord now and I thank Him that I He placed her on my heart so long ago.

Many times God has asked me to go visit someone in the hospital and pray with them. This is a difficult thing for me to do, because I am not naturally drawn to sick people or those I really don’t know well. But if God has asks me to do it, I die to myself and let him use me. I haven’t really seen the fruit of those seeds, but someday I will. God would not ask us to do something if there was not going to be some fruit from it.

When you ask God for opportunities, he will definitely give them to you. One day I asked Him to use me to be a blessing to others. With only $5 cash in my purse, I was shopping on my lunch hour. As I stood in line to check out, I saw a man come through the store who was obviously homeless. The duct tape on his shoes and his unkempt appearance gave him away. It was a cold snowy day and I am sure he was in the store to get warm. God told me to give him the $5 I had in my purse. I had to get out of the check out line, follow this man through the store, and be ready to give him the money and speak of God’s love to him.

This is not something that I do very often, but it was such a strong urge that I knew I had to do it. I was able to approach him and offer him the $5, as he looked into my eyes I simply said, “God loves you.” That was all that God asked me to do. I sacrificed my lunch that day, but I sowed a seed for Jesus. I don’t know when I will see the fruit of that seed, but I have God’s assurance that anything he asks me to do will produce fruit.

When God asks you to do something that requires death to self, just do it. If God asks you to do it, He will also provide you with the grace to perform the task. This is another one of those things that gets a little easier the more you do it. Soon you get to the point where you don’t care what others may think of the things you do, when you know that the God of the Universe wants to use you, it is indeed an awesome honor and responsibility.

Holy God,

We just want to thank you for the precious, sinless blood of Jesus that paid the price for the salvation of the world. How amazing that you would love us enough to die for us. In return for that gift, may we offer ourselves to you this day and ask that you use us to bring blessings to others. May we be seed sowers, may we die to ourselves today to bring glory to you. You don’t ask us to lay down our lives, but we willingly give our lives to you to use to increase your kingdom. It is in the name of Jesus that we come to you today. Amen.