Death Brings Life
“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life’” John 12:24 NIV.
What a vivid picture that is. Do you see it? You are holding the grain of wheat there in your hand. It’s got a hard little shell around it, it’s all by itself, it’s right there in your hand. It’s yours, it’s your life, you control it, you make the decisions. You can decide what you want to do to it. You can hold onto it and keep it. But if you keep it, Jesus says, it will remain alone. Nothing more will ever come out of it.
How many lonely people there are all around us in the world today? They are lonely just for that very reason. They are holding onto that little grain. They are not willing to let it go. And so they have it. It’s all theirs but it’s, oh, so lonely. What’s the alternative? Let it go, drop it. Hand it over to God. Let God take control of it. Be willing to drop into the ground, lose sight of it, and be buried even there in the dark. Maybe people will walk over it, but God’s promise is that a new life will come out of it: a life that’s worth living, a life that’s not just for time, but for eternity.
—Derek Prince
To listen to Derek’s original audio on our website click here.
Materials used by kind permission of Derek Prince Ministries.
Mark 4:26-32 (NKJV)
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”