Have You Died?

Aug 22 2025 - Eric Buresh

John 12:24 – “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” 

I wonder if we’re ever guilty of telling half-truths? I know, personally, I love to talk to others about the abundant life found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I have often hesitated to share the truth that Abundant Life is always preceded by a very real spiritual death, and I’ve increasingly realized that my hesitancy to tell the whole Truth stands in the way of others experiencing the Life I’m advertising. Jesus never hesitated to tell the whole Truth. 

Behold the wisdom of the Master Teacher! With a single sentence, our Lord Jesus unfolds the mystery of His mission and the secret of all true Christian fruitfulness. He sets before us the image of a grain of wheat—full of potential life. Yet it must die. It must fall into the ground and be buried, that it might bring forth a harvest. 

I want to be clear that this Word first and foremost speaks of Christ Himself. The Son of God, that perfect Seed of heaven, came down, humbled Himself unto death, and was laid in the soil of this sin-stricken earth. But what a harvest has sprung from that death! His dying has brought life to multitudes. If He had not died, we would still be dead in sin. If He had not fallen, we could never rise to new life. 

Yet this is not only a word about Christ—it is a call to us. For Jesus says in the very next verse: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Just as He died to bring forth life, so must we. The Christian life is not built on the pursuit of self, but on the surrender of self. The seed must fall. The will must yield. The pride must be broken. Only then does true life spring forth. Do you have ambitions that are noble yet not surrendered? Do you seek to create your own joy or control your own destiny? Then hear this: spiritual life is birthed in surrender.  

But this death to self is not a loss—it is the gateway to abundance! In God’s strange arithmetic, subtraction becomes multiplication. The life laid down becomes the life lifted up. The hand that lets go receives more than it releases. The one who surrenders finds themselves rich in God. Let us not fear the burial, for we follow the One who rose from the grave. Every small death—of pride, of comfort, of self-will—is but a planting for glory. And in the dying, there is joy, for it is the path of life in our Savior. 

Let the seed fall. Let the self die. Let the Savior lead you into life. 

Then, and only then, will your life bear the fruit for which you were created. The path to glory runs through Calvary, and the soul that walks there with Christ shall find that in dying, they have truly begun to live.