There’s an old saying that goes “You don’t really know what life is until you’ve tasted death”. It came up in the news today in the story of a brave cop who chased down thieves at 195 km/hr. I’m sure it may be true in the sense of living life on the edge, but I think in a spiritual sense it means a whole lot more…

Actually I think it’s exactly what Jesus meant when He said: “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. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25). He seems to be saying that you won’t have lived until you’ve learnt to die.

Now hang on a second, that doesn’t mean go get yourself killed! Of course Jesus meant it in a spiritual sense, because he also said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 - read on for a great link between the 2 verses). To follow Christ means to carry a cross daily, and to carry a cross daily means to die daily. But how is that possible?

Well recently I learnt the answer when I had to let some of my dreams die. I learnt it when I had to let my own will die. I learnt it when I had to let my future die. These are things that I had been hanging onto in my life until I realised that God wants me to let them die. Let me elaborate on one of them.

I have been pondering the issue of healing by faith, and have been remembering times when I had prayed in faith for healing, and not getting the healing I expected. I thought at the time that perhaps I had too little faith. Now that’s a harsh sentence to put on anyone, but now I know that it’s actually right, I didn’t have enough faith.

You see I’ve come to realise that the faith that asks for a specific healing is a very small amount of faith. Because it is in fact asking God for something that I believe to be the best for my life, and having the faith that God can and will comply. That’s so small. There is a much bigger kind of faith. It’s the faith that believes that whatever God’s will for my life is, it is the best possible future for me, no matter whether it involves healing or whether it involves pain. Isn’t that huge? In that instance I’ve died, because my will no longer matters, only His will does.

OK let me elaborate with another more personal example. I have been single for over three years now, and am at the age where every second weekend is a wedding and there are not too many single people my age still around…For a while I’ve been praying and asking God to bring someone into my life, believing that it is right to let God handle that department. And I was pretty optimistic, having a fair amount of faith that He would do something about it. Until the day I realised I had to die. What if God wanted me single for the rest of my life? Would I realistically embrace that as an option? Do I have that kind of faith that if it is His will then I will gladly accept that future? I sincerely hoped that it was not the case, but the reality is God might ask that. Could I let that dream die?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe dying means staying single for the rest of your life! But I do hope by now you’re getting the picture of what dying daily means, and just how wound up in the issue of faith it is. The extent to which you will die to Christ is directly proportional to the real amount of faith that you have in Him.

David Crowder sings a song with the words “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”. I’ve always thought of those words in the sense of life and the afterlife, but now I also see it in the context of our lives here on earth. As christians I think we’re all very willing to live fruitful, meaningful, powerful lives, but I don’t think we’re as willing to let the grain of wheat die…But according to Jesus it is a pre-requisite.

Nothing about dying has ever been easy, and certainly in the spiritual sense it isn’t. And I’ll admit I can’t do it. Which is why I steal the words of a Third Day song for a prayer I pray almost daily “Please take from me my life, when I don’t have the strength to give it away to you Jesus”. From what I’ve been going through I think God has heard those words…Try them, and see how new life grows.

Posted by Rich on Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 23:25 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.