Page 127 - Radical Love by Linda Robinson

RADICAL LOVE

This serves to increase our faith so that the defeats of yesterday become

the victories of our tomorrows.

Watchman Nee wrote these words:

“In John 12:24 (NRSV) the Lord said: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a
grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single

grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Life is in the grain. However,

there is a shell around the outside of the grain, a mighty shell. As long
as this shell does not break open, the grain cannot grow. ‘Unless the

grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies.’

What is this death? It is the action of the temperature and moisture of

the earth upon the grain that results in the breaking of the shell. When
the shell breaks, the grain grows. Therefore, it is not a matter of whether

the grain has life within it, but whether the outer shell is broken.

The very following verses in John say: ‘Anyone who loves their life
will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it

for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am,
my servant will also be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.”

According to the Lord, the outer shell is our own self-life, and this is

what has to die for the life of the Spirit to be released. Our very being
has to be broken by the Lord; otherwise, the life of the Lord remains

locked up within us.

This season of God’s breaking can be termed as winter. Furthermore,

the rains referred to here are not the gentle summer showers, but the

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