The Corn of Wheat Must Die

I had a pocketful of seeds for a good part of the day today.  Several varieties in size, shape and color … but all useless in my pocket.  One might as well have a pocket full of lint balls!  They would be just as useful as seeds in the pocket.  I was exercising an age long principle today by taking the seeds and pressing them into the ground, covering them up and watering them.  You see, they cannot fulfill their purpose unless they are buried in the ground … but THEN …. oh, wonder of wonders; that which is buried and hidden inert in the ground will spring forth and bear wonderful fruit at the appointed time.  I was reminded of the passage in John 12.24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

Of course, Jesus is a wonderful illustration of this principle as well.  He is the corn of wheat, buried and then risen bringing forth much fruit … the fruit of eternal life for those who have come to faith in Him.  It’s common to hear that parallel made in the teaching of the Scriptures.  My meditations, while planting seeds today however, caused me to wonder what came after that verse.  I could not remember offhand so I looked it up:

“He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me.”

That makes it kind of personal, doesn’t it?  It’s comfortable to think of Jesus as the corn of wheat that must die … and then to enjoy the fruit of His actions.  It’s not so comfortable to think of ME as the corn of wheat that must die, in order that that others may enjoy the fruit of the work God wants to do in and through me.  I never thought of myself as a particularly seedy guy!  As I pressed the seeds into the ground and covered them over with dirt I began to think how bizarre it would be if, under cover of darkness, some of those seeds decided they didn’t want to stay there and they crawled out of their holes and basked in the morning sun tomorrow.  Then I prayed, “Lord, help me to not resist dying and being “put in the ground” in my life of service, in order that others may enjoy the fruit that you wish to produce in and through my life.