The Grain of Wheat

The Grain of Wheat

“I tell you, most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.  Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.”  (John 12: 24 -25)

A grain of wheat must die before it can yield a rich harvest.  We take this law of nature for granted.  But when Jesus says that the same law of nature applies to me in the spiritual realm, I kick.  I kick because I understand what he means.  Dying is painful.  Dying to my old self means abandoning totally my old world ideas on key areas of my life:  family, health, money, job, tools, and food.  Then I replace these ideas with Christ’s ideas.  The Christ-centered new ideas will influence a new way of seeing things and a new way of behaving.  

The process of dying and every kind of dying is very painful.  “Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.”  

Lord Jesus, thank you for your message.  Help me to die to my old self.  Show me how to do this in all things, big and small.