John 12:20-50 A Message Worth Hearing

Jesus was closing out His public ministry before He was to die on the cross.  He likened His death to the process a seed goes through to become a plant.  My commentary noted these spiritual truths:  “There can be no glory without suffering, no fruitful life without death, no victory without surrender.  Of itself, a seed is weak and useless, but when it is planted, it dies and becomes fruitful.  There is both beauty and bounty when a seed dies and fulfills its purpose … the only way it can achieve its goal is by being planted.  God’s children are like seeds.  They are small and insignificant, but they have life in them, God’s life.  However, that life can never be fulfilled unless we yield ourselves to God and permit Him to plant us.  We must die to self so that we may live unto God.”

God also spoke to me about the quote from Isaiah in verse 40.  My commentary said, “When a person starts to resist the light, something begins to change within him, and he comes to the place where he cannot believe.  There is judicial blindness that God permits to come over the eyes of people who do not take the truth seriously.”  How important it is, then, that we help those we love to see their spiritual blindness developing, in order that we may help prevent it from taking over their lives.

Father, I know that I struggled with judicial blindness for a time as I chose to move away from You.  How I wish that someone had been there to tell me what I was doing.  Don’t let me fail to say what I need to say to others.  In the same vein, help me to show them the incredible truth You revealed here about the fruitfulness of dying to self, and the blessings it brings.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford