Appleseeds

"Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, 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. 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. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."
John 12:23-26

Jesus' talk of seeds and kernels here reminds me of that simple little children's poster that captured my attention as a kid. There was a picture of a little girl holding this extra large delicious apple sliced down the middle and counting the seeds. At the bottom of this picture, the text read something like this, "man can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed." I can vividly recall the satisfying work of logic that my young brain went through to make sense of this statement. The seed had an apple tree in it, with lots of apples, year after year, but only God in His great wisdom knew how many. The only way for all these apples to actually manifest themselves was for the seed to be buried, and die - then, and only then, could we see the blessing of so many more apples.

Here, Jesus describes Himself as such a seed, as He predicts His death and burial and resurrection - something that would be painful, yet necessary for the ample blessings of new life to flourish. In Jesus' life, death and resurrection we see a distinct act of glory. An act of sacrifice so great and unexpected that the Son of God was lifted up for our undivided praise and honor. Jesus was glorified on the cross.

I wonder though, if Jesus had something else in mind as well, when He spoke of it being His hour to be glorifed. I wonder if the thing that would give Him glory was not just the amazing act of sacrifice, but also the fruit that would burst forth from the seed.

We, are the fruit that was born out of the suffering seed. We are the apples that were hidden inside the dying kernel. We are the ones, who by faith, were designed to give Christ and His cross glory. How could we ever give Christ glory? Jesus seems to indicate that we glorify Him when we too become little seeds of sacrifice. We must "hate our life," "deny ourselves, pick up our cross" and "follow Him." When we live our lives for His sake and His glory we become living sacrifices - healthy fruit born out of suffering.

Christ died so that we, by living sacrificial lives of faith might give Him the glory He so richly deserves. To rightly honor and glorify Christ's passion, we must likewise sacrifice all in a life of service and discipleship. And then, amazingly, and undeservedly, God will honor us...we shall one day be lifted up in glory with Jesus to be where He is.

O Lord, forgive me for those times that I have selfishly loved my life at your expense. Forgive me for those times that I have not lived a discipleship life of sacrifice, but of cowardice and consumption. Please empower me to be a seed of glory for Jesus - that all I do, meagre as it is, may bring glory to your name. And Lord haste the day when all the fruit of your sacrifice may reside in glory with you. AMEN

Be God's, Scott