Page 54 - Living Light Spring 2024

Wednesday May 1 - From seed to harvest
“Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24
I have sadly forgotten most of my school biology lessons, but I still feel wonder at the way in which tiny cells at the heart of all seeds contain within them the energy to reproduce themselves as a flowering plant, a small bush or even a mighty conifer. Of course this only happens when they are buried in soil and watered. The seeds with which I feed the birds will never grow into trees.
Jesus uses the image of a seed to explain to his disciples how his death will bring the gospel to all nations. The book of Acts will go on to show how the good news of Jesus’ salvation spread from Antioch to Rome within years of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Yet had Jesus remained alive, preaching in Galilee, perhaps no-one today would have heard of him! Good Friday did not prevent the good news from going to all the world – it was the very means by which it happened!
I sometimes wonder whether, in church life, we carry on doing things because we fear that if we stop no-one else will do them. But I have learnt the lesson that sometimes we have to let something die in order for God to bring new and multiplied life. Perhaps Jesus’ metaphor of the dying seed has a wider application for the way we all live and serve?
Loving Lord Jesus, show me areas in my life where things that seem dead are now ready to spring into new life. Amen.
Thursday May 2 - Life in perspective
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:25
I hope that I am not one of life’s misery-guts! I am happy to be alive and to enjoy all the goodness of God’s creation. I don’t think that the good news is spread by gloomy Christians! Yet here Jesus criticises those who love life, telling us to hate it. Is this the same Jesus who spent his life going to disreputable parties and told stories about the joy of the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus is warning his disciples not to cling to life at all costs but to keep it in an eternal perspective. His disciples will soon face their sternest test. Will they stay with Jesus as he is arrested and tried by Pilate, or will they run and hide? Will they accept Jesus’ challenge that sometimes in order to multiply we first have to die? I love the life that God has given me, but I know that compared to eternity it is no more than a blink of the eye! Why then cling on to something so small when what God offers is so great?
The disciples fail this test, at least at first. They will not follow Jesus to the cross. Peter will deny him and the other disciples will slink away. Later, though, they will each follow Jesus to their own deaths and so understand the truth that Paul discovered: ‘to live is Christ; to die is gain’ (Philippians 1:21).
Lord Jesus Christ, may I follow you joyfully and serve you faithfully. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
52
PRAYER FOR TODAY