Dying To Live - Your Daily Forward Devotional

Dying To Live

March 8

Read John 12:24-26 (ESV)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

Reflect

What is Jesus calling His followers to and what does He promise in return?

You don’t have to be a gardener to know that if you want your seeds to grow you have to bury them in the ground. If you don’t, they will never bear fruit. But if you plant them, you will get a great return on your initial investment. A tiny seed buried in the dirt can bear much fruit.

Jesus used this illustration in today’s passage to demonstrate that many people will live forever because of His death on the cross. Yesterday, we read that Jesus said the hour had come for Him to be glorified (v. 23). Now He’s talking about dying? Yes, Jesus would be glorified but He would be glorified through His crucifixion. Jesus knew that He would have to suffer and die but He also knew that through His sacrificial death, many souls would be saved. Forever. His death yielded more fruit than we can even imagine!

In His omniscience, Jesus knew the glory that awaited Him when He rose and ascended to heaven. The author of Hebrews says that we should look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus’ suffering and death resulted in His glory—and ours. We get to share in His glory!

But that also means we share in His earthly suffering and His service. That’s what He meant when He said that “whoever loves his life will lose it but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it.” He wasn’t asking us to loathe our own existence. But He was telling us that we must love God so much that it is like hating our own lives by comparison. People who love this temporary, worldly life more than they love the Lord won’t be willing to suffer or sacrifice for the kingdom of God. We must be willing to lay our lives down for the sake of Christ.

The apostle Paul explained that he was willing to share in the sufferings of Christ because he knew that he’d also share in the resurrection of Christ which is more valuable by far. “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).

When we lay down our lives in service and sacrifice for the Lord, the death that we die to ourselves will bear much fruit. Paul wrote that he was willing to suffer so that others can obtain salvation as well (2 Timothy 2:10). He added: “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:11-13).

The paradox is, in Christ, death is life. When we lay down our lives in service and sacrifice for Christ, we are promised two things: the presence of Christ and the honor of the Father. What is a loss here on earth equals eternal gain. Praise the Lord!

Respond

Lord, Your death and resurrection is a precious gift. Thank You for laying Your life down to save mine and countless others. Give me the courage and the strength to sacrifice and suffer for Your Name. I know the eternal gains will far outweigh the temporary losses. Amen.

Reveal: How can laying down your life in sacrifice and service to the Lord reveal the greatness of Christ to others?

~ Pastor Nat Crawford