Living dead is living the life you have always longed for but could never find. Find it today in the words of Jesus in John 12.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, happy to share God’s hope with you today.
Years ago, I was speaking at a conference, and I was introduced to Greg, a missionary from Africa. He wore a t-shirt with an odd logo on the front. It was in big, bold letters, and at first, I wasn’t sure I was reading the words correctly. But yes, this man was sporting a shirt that announced, “LIVE DEAD.” Those words grabbed my attention, and so I asked him about it. I said, “Tell me sir, I’m interested in how you live dead?” Greg had a ready answer from the Gospel of John, the 12th chapter. There, Jesus says to his disciples, “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.” These words of Jesus are so hard for many of us to grasp, let alone live. Because Jesus is asking us to live dead.
When I asked Greg how he puts it into practice, he said that, for him, the Christian life is getting up, getting dressed, and leaving the house to go die to himself. And friend? The same is true for you and me. Every morning we get up to go out and die to our wants and preferences, die to that itchiness to get things our way; to hogging the spotlight, and not giving credit where credit is due. You die to yourself when you stop keeping a record of other people’s wrongs, and when you don’t cherish inflated ideas of your own importance. When you go out that door, you bury yourself and rise to Jesus; you die to yourself and live to Jesus; you say no to yourself and yes to Jesus.
Man, that’s a battle to live as though your life doesn’t matter. That only Christ matters. It’s a battle because, frankly, it’s easier to think that your life is all that matters! It’s easier to sin. Selfish pursuits come so naturally that we don’t even have to think about them. It is always our natural inclination to choose our desires. Because we are fallen creatures, and if left to our own devices, we will always take the selfish path, the road that positions us better, the road with the fewest obstacles; the road paved with comforts and conveniences. But that’s not a road familiar to Jesus. He chose the hard path to calvary. He died there to self so that you could have the power to live as you should. Power to follow him. Power to lay down your life for God and for others. And an amazing thing happens when you do that. Your “death to self” as it were, produces so many, many new kernels, a plentiful harvest of new lives. Something divine and mysterious happens when we die to ourselves and live to others. Because those “others” are influenced for the Gospel in a powerful way. Their hearts are more readily open to Christ. They hear the good news, and they respond. All because you died to yourself.
It is only by losing our lives for the sake of Christ that God increases his kingdom. The seed multiplies into an abundant harvest of transformed lives. When you live dead and live to Jesus, you’ll see yourself as part of the expanding kingdom of Christ, filled with an abundant harvest of changed lives. And nothing gives you greater joy. Living dead is living the life you have always longed for but could never find. Well, find it today in the words of Jesus in John 12.
© Joni and Friends