It has to die.....

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, 

it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)

I've really never look at this verse very closely, until today.

My daddy always had a garden.  He often would leave the seeds in the house to dry out in the fall.  I loved to play with the seeds and just let them fall through my fingers.  But those seeds would just lie there until he put them away.  When planting season would come around, daddy would till the soil, and we would plant the seeds.  Drop them in the dirt and cover them.  They would grow and grow - we would harvest.  It was after some of these vegetables were cut and had "died" that the seeds would be harvested.

Jesus - had to die, be buried and be raised from the dead - to bear much fruit.  It was after He completed what He was sent to do - bring salvation to the lost.  He bore much fruit.

We are the same - we have to die to self, allow Jesus to change us, till the ground, plant within us, and we grow - to produce good fruits.  

Sometimes death is painful, we have to surrender OUR wants, for His best.  But oh how great the reward in the end.