Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.”
John 12:24-25
The Last One, of Course, Should be About Death
Oh, sisters, all good things must come to an end—-namely, death. Death, after all, is an appropriate ending. It has an air of finality. We call it the end once we have done all we can, whether worst or best. Of course, there is a however coming. The “however” happened on the third day. God does what He does when we have done our all and still fall short. Resurrection—-it’s what God does. The cross is empty; the tomb is empty. Jesus Christ set us free to die.
Ressurection involves death. God cannot resurrect us unless we die first. Plain and simple. God does what God does; He resurrects. By living, we become ourselves; by dying, we become God’s (if we know how to die). If we hand everything back to God, who gave us life, with no formatting, he is free to create. He will do just that. He will create in us according to His good pleasure.
If I no longer have to protect and safeguard my life, I am free to live by faith. If I no longer have to justify my life, I am free to live by faith. If I no longer have to dread death, fearful that all meaning ends in my coffin, I am free to live by faith. It is not until we are free to die that we are free to participate in the ultimate expression of God’s freedom–resurrection.
This resurrection, which Jesus began, and Paul preached, wasn’t an exception to our lives but a promise. Resurrection isn’t a yearly celebration of a few good moments or a springlike gush of good feelings. Nor is resurrection what we get when we avoid failure or achieve success. It’s not what we do at all. Resurrection is the freedom of God among us and with us. God freely does what we cannot. All we need to do is respond by accepting.
Sisters, we walk through the mess. We don’t avoid or go around. We stay the course, and we don’t quit. Circumcision, not circumcision, doesn’t matter. Being a new creation is all that counts. The only way to be a new creation is in death. The only way to live is to die.
So here we are, passionately believing in and committed to our resurrected savior, walking in freedom. We walk by faith, daring to surrender all and trust that He will not fail us—-staying free along the way!