Before his death on the cross Jesus taught his disciples that a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die before it’s able to produce a harvest of new life. And this pattern finds its fulfillment in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And it’s this pattern we’re also called to follow.
To be sure, it’s easy to stay busy chasing our own self-interest. And while no one might accuse us of being lazy, we’re also not offering ourselves in a way that brings life to others. To be kingdom men requires more than just hard work. It calls for us to be a living sacrifice – spilling our life and seed in service of the larger story God is telling. And this involves death.
Christ makes it plain that if we love our life in this world we will lose it. But if we give up our life for his sake we will save it.
All too often we pursue our professional credentials, public recognition, retirement accounts, and the like with much zeal. We make a name for ourselves and secure a relatively comfortable life. But soon we start to notice life around us has become barren and dry. And what’s needed in these moments is not more effort, but sacrifice – dying to business as usual and embracing the transformation of our hearts that leads to a deeper, richer, and fuller life.
Sacrifice is surrendering our understanding of how things should work, and allowing God to produce through us the new life that only he can. This is not something we can control or manage, only yield to. But it’s through yielding to this mystery that we’re transformed and empowered to walk in the newness of life – taking up our cross and following Christ through death to life.
In the end, new life comes after death. And the impact we desire to make in the world will require our sacrifice as well – dying to our self-interest and learning to seek God’s kingdom above all else.
