Dying to live!

About a week before Passover, Jesus finds His way to Bethany and here Mary anoints the feet of Jesus. Then the next day Jesus makes His triumphal entry, fulfilling the prophesy of Zechariah 9 of Him riding into town on a donkey's colt.

People began to accumulate to worship Him and Jesus said in John 12:23 "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." So many times Jesus had said to his Disciples that His hour had not yet come, but here begins His glorification. And the truth He shared with them at this time was truly magnificent.

Verse 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."

He uses an analogy here that the people could understand because they knew that seed had to be planted into the earth in order for it to produce its fruit. And throughout all of His ministry He had been explaining this process and they just didn't get it. Even though they understood the seed analogy, they could not see past their own physical death.

Verse 25: "He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal."

Now this is where it gets interesting as Jesus shares with them that lovers of this world will eventually lose their lives (here He references their souls and eternity), whereas those who hate this world and do not conform to its deeds really have something to gain. If we are lovers of this world and conform to its ways, we will not achieve the place in eternity that God had planned for us. However, understanding that we are not of this world and do NOT conform to its ways is our "ticket to heaven" and eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul reminds us in Romans 14:9 "For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Just as the wheat falls into the earth and dies (in order to bear fruit), we too, will someday experience this death in order to experience eternal life. It's really not difficult to understand at all. Jesus is saying that you must love Him more than this world to experience life with Christ.

Verse 26: And here He makes this promise to us and that is, "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the father will honor him."

Jesus says you follow me, serve me, love me, and I will see that your place is with me and the Father with honor. Again in John 14:3 He tells His disciples that His purpose in all of this is to go prepare a place for them and if He goes, He will come again and receive them so that where He is, there they may be also (paraphrased).

So, if you are a child of the King, if you know Jesus as your Lord, as your Savior; If your salvation is secure, then this analogy fits into your life. A grain of wheat must fall into the earth and die in order to live. So we're really NOT living until we die. We are DYING TO LIVE!

Dave