Oh to Be Like Jesus!

John 12:24-25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (25) He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Several years ago, there was a clever fad that spread across this country. Young and old people everywhere were wearing bracelets with the inscription: WWJD. These simple letters stood for “What Would Jesus Do”. While that is a very useful memory devise for thinking about temptation prior to the act, I think there is a slightly better question: What Did Jesus Do?

1 Peter 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

While speculating what Jesus MIGHT do can be useful, following what he DID DO is essential! In our text today, Jesus eludes to his death on the cross to teach us how that we might follow in his steps. Jesus, of course, is best known for his death on the cross. He literally died in an agonizing an painful fashion so that we might have the hope of eternal life.

That is what he did. We MUST follow in his steps!

Jesus teaches us that in order for a seed to become more than an individual, self contained unit, it must first die. Once it does, it can produce much fruit. If you read that passage alone, you might conclude that he is speaking of himself here. But the verse following clearly indicates that the death that he is speaking of is OURS!

In verse 25 he teaches us that we must be willing to lose or die to this life. In all honesty, we really do not HAVE to. However, losing this life or dying to our old self is the ONLY way that we gain the spiritual, eternal life to come. So what if we choose not to die and forfeit this life? We will lose our life to come!

Jesus is telling us that we cannot have our cake and eat it too. We will either have to make sacrifices in this life to gain the next, or sacrifice our eternal life to keep doing what we are currently doing.

Is this life so great, so incredible that you are willing to sacrifice eternity with our Savior and with our Creator? No matter how much we might like this life, it is full of heartache and disappointments. One of the most awesome promises of the life to come is that there will be no pain, no suffering and no tears.

That is worth dying for!