I have been working on this for days now, and then a new
realization came and I threw out the old versions. That is the way it is with God. You have to be willing to throw out, throw
away or part with things of this world – even if it is just your own ideas or
ideals in order to watch something new and awesome grow. Jesus gives us the analogy of the wheat to
show us this. The wheat grows and
produces fruit, but and only when it is buried, died and is gone from this
world. We are each one piece of that
fruit and when we are willing to let go of our own selfishness. We can only share what God has given us, our
own kernel of wheat, when we can let go of our egos so that we can get out of
our own way. Then and only then can we
can watch God’s love grow in amazing ways.
Originally the entire body of this sermon was about making
hard choices. It seems like I have been
seeing them lately combined with a need for patience in my own life and in
other people’s lives as well. I realized
yesterday though that hard choices aren’t the only thing this passage is
talking about. Yes, sometimes we have
hard choices just as Jesus did. He tells
us that he could ask to be relieved of his duty to die on the cross. He could ask for it to go away and it would,
but he is choosing to go forward for the glory of God. We have choices like this – things we know
are going to be hard, but we go forward because we know God is leading us in
it. Sometimes we just have so many
things on our plates and we don’t know what choice to make – that is another
type of hard choice. But if we let Jesus
be our guide and ask his help we can do it. We can do all things for the glory
of God.
Yesterday I had a meeting regarding conference in the
morning and then we could choose to stay and volunteer in Middleburgh’s flood
recovery area. I had not had very much
family time with my entire family lately.
I have a ton of homework to do – and of course an assignment was “tweaked”
after I had my reading day so now the pile is growing. I know volunteering is a good thing, but I
had these other equally good things to do that would also be good and for
God. This was a hard choice. I knew what I should do, but I really wanted
to get some of that work done and squeeze in family time. Finally
I decided if no one needed my help at either of the two major sites I could
just go home. I decided to let God lead
me. The first did not and I have to tell
you I was relieved. I thought I was
getting out of the hard choice here and I would only have to go home to make a
hard choice there – family time or homework. When I got to the second site, I
realized they needed me. I spent a very
interesting afternoon yanking wires out of a previously flooded home. My arms ache, I was filthy, and tired, but I
know without a doubt that I had the privilege of experiencing one of those
moments - one of those moments when I
buried a seed and didn’t get to do what I thought I wanted to do in order to
what God wanted me to do.
I met a woman whose husband has back
problems. She owns a business and a home
that were flooded. Her home was a small
home that they had just completely gutted and redone 8 years ago. She was quiet and did not say a lot of her
experience – I think she may already have done that. She did chuckle a few times at our corny
jokes and banter and she did share snippets of her experience. Her gratefulness for church people, how many
meals she ate at the Methodists, and Catholic meal sites, difficulty with
insurance companies, losses of pictures, and Christmas decorations. At the end of the day, I asked if I could
pray with her. We did and I experienced
God. I received a hug that had hope and
gratefulness combined better than words ever could. I know that I did not do
much. I will not be back next weekend as we have life plans as usual, but that
in that moment I did what God wanted me to do to help her. I also know I will be back to the volunteer site
again, and we truly helped her and gave her a little more hope to keep
going.
We have to be willing to give up our egos, our wants, our
selves sometimes in order to truly follow God.
It isn’t a onetime deal. It isn’t a checklist that you can complete; it
is something that you have to work at. It is something you have to be in
conversation with God about. It is a
daily choice on how to live.
That is what Jesus is calling us to. Make a choice. Decide how you are going to
live. Are you going to take your grain
of wheat and hold it close? Bury it with
you, or are you going to allow it out of your control. To go into the ground and be planted so that
it can produce 30, 60, or even a 100 more grains?
It is time for us to stop putting ourselves on the top of
the to-do list and start letting God control the to-do list. How are you going to do that today? How are you going to do it this week? Do you need to focus on connecting with God,
praying, meditating? Do you need to
focus on doing one unselfish act a week?
Could practice some pray time and allow God to speak quietly to your
heart? Will you listen?
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