The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: John 5:19-27

“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

A Grain of Wheat

A grain of wheat, or a seed of any kind, is a common object. But there is something wonderful and mysterious about it. We bury it in the ground, where it dies. Soon, new life bursts from the seed. It sprouts, grows, and bears fruit.
To help us understand the meaning of His death and burial, Jesus used the picture of a seed. He had come into the world that men might have life and have it more abundantly. What was difficult for the people of that day was that He had to die in order to accomplish His earthly mission. As the little seed dies in the ground in order to produce many seeds, and reproduce more life, so He would produce life in others by dying Himself.
His resurrection from the dead, after He has paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, now enables us to live in Him. The believers, who will live eternally with Him, are the fruit of His suffering and death. May we always believe in Him as the Savior, who was willing to die that we might live.
But if we are to bear fruit as Christians, we, too, must die to sin. Our old sinful nature must be crucified. Selfishness must die, and we must live our lives for Christ. Thus, we, too, shall find life, eternal life, the abundant life, and bear much fruit to the glory of God. He that loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it.

O Holy Spirit, cause us to die unto self and sin, that we may love and live for Christ now and in all eternity. Amen.

July 07, 1956