John 12:23,24
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, 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.”
Jesus is the Ultimate Kernel and our only firm foundation. He is the One who gave His life so that many would be saved from their sins. He is the One who chose to go to the cross and, in doing so, saved people like you and me. He knew when He stepped out of Heaven what He was stepping into, and yet He did it anyway, full of grace and truth. He is our Messiah and the One who produces a righteousness in us, not of self but of the Savior. All this truth is foundational for our faith, but do we know we are called to follow in His footsteps? That we, too, are called to be little kernels that die to self and produce more seeds for His glory? The very next verse shows us that Christ calls us to do as He did:
John 12:25- Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Christ knows that our love of self will keep us from dying to self and from producing more seeds. He knows that it is this death-grip we have on our lives that will eventually lead us to death. It’s amazing that the very thing we try to avoid will come about if we don’t lay down our lives before Him. We fight selfishly to prolong our lives, and yet Christ says it is that very heart-posture and attitude that will cost us our lives. He says instead, “Lose your life to Me so that you may have one eternally!” What a trade – this short mist in a fallen world for all eternity with our resurrected and glorified King! Look at the promise Christ gives in the next verse to those who lay down their lives and follow Him:
John 12:26- Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
He promises that those who follow in His footsteps and die to self to live in Christ will not only be where He is, but the Father will honor the one who serves Him! I am unworthy of such a blessing and promise! Thank You, Lord, for Your unfailing love, unending mercy, and Your unmatched grace!
God bless! I love you all, but His love is the foundation our lives are built on! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
John 12:44,45
Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.”
If we want to know Who God is and what He is about, we need to look no further than Christ. He is the visible image of the invisible God, a living example of who our God is. How awesome is our God to give us such an example? He doesn’t just leave us out here wondering about who He is or trying to figure it out on our own. Instead, He sent Christ as our atoning sacrifice, a physical representation of who He is and an example in all things.
How blessed we are to serve a God who cares so much about us and that we know that we know who He is. There are many different ways God could have revealed Himself to us, and He chose to do it through His Son. His most precious and beloved Son, given for you and me. Not given out of anger or resentment but out of purest love and a genuine heart. We are so blessed and yet so unworthy at the same time to have such a God, but that’s one of the most beautiful things about it. We don’t deserve it. We couldn’t earn it, and yet He gave it freely!
Man can accomplish a lot of things but saving themselves is not one of them. We were lost, bound, doomed, and marked for destruction until Christ came in the humblest of ways and as the meekest of men. Though He was above all, He became lower than all to save a wretch like me! Our God in the flesh came to save us from ours! Thank You, LORD!
Colossians 1:15,16- Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him.
God bless! I love you all, but His love is infinitely more powerful than anything else we know! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!
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