Unless a Seed Falls

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

Entropy. The second law of thermodynamics. Everywhere I see evidence of it – in the mirror, in my overgrown yard, in the deaths of so many I’ve known, in this freakishly scary out-of-control world. Everywhere, degradation and decay ultimately ending in death.

This world, and everything in it, is programmed to die. But it’s in death that we find new life.

In my cheese drawer I have three packets of sunflower seeds. They are the product of now-dead sunflowers. This coming week I will sprout them in an egg carton filled with potting soil. Sprouts will burst forth through the soil, and I will transplant them to a prepared bed. There – provided the squirrels don’t get them first – they will grow taller than I into beautiful sunflowers, from which I will harvest more seeds. And from death will again come something beautiful and transformative.

Unless a seed falls . . .

So it is with Jesus’ death. His disciples believed His death would be the end of the story. It was instead a new beginning. Three days later, the stone was rolled away, and Jesus arose from the dead – much the same as He was but different somehow, familiar yet unfamiliar, corporeal yet not bound by physical limitations.

He did not have to die, yet He did. He knew only He could make perfect atonement for our sins. So He died and then rose to defeat death and hell that we may have life in Him.

But for us to experience this life, we too must die. We must die to ourselves, to our wants, to our desire for our own way. We must die to everything that seeks satisfaction in our flesh. Then, and only then, will we be able to have new life – the true life – that is available in Jesus Christ.

In our new lives, we should no longer resemble what we were. People should look at us and see growth and goodness and beauty. The old is gone; the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

It is apt we celebrate Easter in the spring – a time when the thawing world again begins to teem with new life. It is a time when we should refocus on our new life – and the perfect sacrifice of a perfect Savior who alone could provide it.

This is our peace. This is our joy. This is our provision. This is our life. This is our hope.

He is risen! And someday all who trust in Christ shall rise again to the ultimate fulfillment of our hope In Him. Happy Easter, my friends!

But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. – 1 Corinthians 15:38-44a

2 thoughts on “Unless a Seed Falls

  1. Excellent post, It’s been a while since I commented on the post which has to do with staying at home mother. Dying to self is the fundamental of the Christian life. The truth is that we come to Christ by acknowledging the old life that we used to live was not it, so we have to change course by giving up everything that pertains to the old life by embracing Christ’s life and His ways. That’s the point, Christ gave His life in order to enable us to live another type of life that’s above the old one we used to live which was totally detestable and unacceptable in the sight of God.