Life through Death

This week we are reprinting an excerpt from a chapter by Gordon Ferguson in Thirty Days at the Foot of the Cross.

  

"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" (John 12:23-25).

We human beings are our own worst enemies.  We want control.  We want our own judgment, our opinions, our desires, our power!  We refuse to deny self daily and stay surrendered.  Therefore, failure and frustration creep in once more. 

Much of this frustration and anger is actually directed at God, even though we may not realize it.  We may blame him for not answering our prayers in the way we think he should.  Truthfully, our prayers are often little more than requests for God to rubber-stamp our selfish desires.  We commonly have far more self in our religion than we think.

Surrender, or death to self, is an emotional break with self in control.  We become willing to yield our lives, our health, our family, our finances, our future and our plans totally to him.  We are willing to accept what we need rather than stubbornly to insist on what we want. 

In essence, we allow God to be God in our daily lives.  Amazingly, real life follows as a great calmness pervades our entire being, otherwise known as the "peace which passes understanding" (Philippians 4:7).  True meaning and purpose come into focus, and productivity begins.  Crucifixion gives way to resurrection!