One thing I love about the Gospels is the way in which they display both the deity and humanity of Jesus in the most beautiful harmony. Jesus weeps, he grows tired, he shows compassion and indignation. He also heals, feeds thousands, walks on water, and displays His glory in magnificent ways. None more magnificent than his death.
Tonight, I was pondering His words in John 12:23-28:
“Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now my soul is troubled. What should I say - Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
He knew what His Father had called Him to. He knew that He lived to die. He knew that to die was to live again…and the only way to bring eternal life to the world. Yet, His soul was troubled. The weight of what was about to take place brought a soul pain we can never fully comprehend…causing Him to sweat drops of blood in the garden. His deity and his humanity are seen in the most bittersweet harmony of all. The Righteous for the unrighteous, the Holy for the vile, the Perfect for the sinner.
If we are called to be like Jesus, and we are, then there is much for us to grab ahold of as we look at Jesus’s life. When we are seeking to be faithful to obey our Lord, a troubled heart should not cause us to run, to doubt, or to stop what we are doing. A troubled heart should cause us to grab ahold of God through His Word and prayer...clinging to His promises, the hope of eternal life, and the fruit that comes from dying to self.
Dying to self is not the mantra of the world we live in. The world tells us to live for self, take time for self, seek to please self, put self first. We know it’s not the way of Christ, but we hear it so often that it can seep into the bloodstream of our thought...rooting itself into our hearts faster than we can even imagine! We then expect fruit to come from the garden of self pursuit and self indulgence…yet this is not the way of the cross…this is not what walking worthy of our Savior looks like.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?” Matthew 16:24-26
Losing our life is costly. Dying to self is often painful...yet God’s Word says it’s the only way to be truly free, the only way to truly experience life to the full. It is not the wisdom of this world…but it’s the wisdom from above. It’s the way of our Savior if we truly want to be like Him. It’s the way to true joy today and every day.
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
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