“I tell you the truth, a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die to make many seeds. But if it never dies, it remains only a single seed.25 Those who love their lives will lose them, but those who hate their lives in this world will keep true life forever.”
John 12:24-25, NCV
Often believers are attempting to ‘hear God’ only to bolster their position, reputation, ‘connections’ and prestige. There’s no talk about falling down and dying as Jesus revealed in John 12. If I’m extremely occupied with knowing God’s will it will maneuver me into a completely wrong position. Discipleship was never meant to be a celestial self-improvement plan.
When I get over-concerned about ‘my’ discipleship, acquiring the praise of men and achieving a modicum of honor, I end up ‘missing the boat’. Life was not meant to profit from, but ‘to fall and die.’ There is a deadly danger of becoming self-aware and self-absorbed. And this is ‘the spirit of the age’.
Nothing will ever go right if we try to hear the Lord while we avoid falling and dying. To put it another way. There can be no resurrection without a crucifixion first. We must die if we are going to live. We must become weak before we can understand power.
Will you realign your life to include ‘falling, and dying?’
Do you really want to hear Him? Will you realign your life to include ‘falling, and dying?’ Will you begin to readjust the way you approach yourself and others?Modern popular versions of our faith will almost always lack this ‘death-life’ component. These versions are often designed to reflect our society. And we are terribly self-centered. We will not ever grow and mature unless we consent to ‘falling and dying’.
Beware of the church whose leaders do not ‘limp.’
Beware of the church whose leaders do not ‘limp.’ Dying to self is a challenging and vital component to our faith that will bring us into an astonishing fruitfulness. That is what happens to those who die–they bring life to others.
