A plentiful harvest of new lives

"Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity." John 12:23-25 (NLT)

As I read these verses I began to think about the New Year. We hear all about resolutions and decisions to change things for the new year ahead. The majority of the resolutions are for personal goals. When we resolve to lose weight it could be to fit into smaller clothes, to look better, to feel better or even for health reasons. We may resolve to begin saving for retirement, vacations, to be debt free or many other things. Other resolutions may include church, bible reading or growing in our faith. These are all great things to vow to do or change. More times than not we do things for personal gain or happiness.

Here Jesus explains that we actually need to die to self to produce new results. He uses an example of the seed. Seeds on the inside contains life but the outside is dead until planted and watered. So as Christians we need to give up our fleshly desires and begin to understand the life that is inside us. The Holy Spirit dwells in Christians and by dying to our self we begin to allow Christ to work on us from the inside out.

So with the New Year ahead of us lets look toward a "a plentiful harvest of new lives".