Brokenness (2)

More from the book, Brokenness by Nancy Leigh deMoss:

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone;

but if it dies, it produces much grain.

John 12.24

I believe one of the reasons that so many people live with chronic loneliness is that they are unwilling to die. If a grain of wheat does not fall into the ground and die, it "remains alone". Our natural instinct is to hold on protectively to our own lives. When we refuse to shed that hard, outer shell called 'self', no one can get close to us; no one can penetrate or enter into our life. Just as pride repulses God, so pride keeps others from  getting close to us. 

Pastor Ray Ortlund: 

"Most churches are like a bag of marbles- all hard and clanging up against one another. Instead, we ought to be like a bag of grapes- squished together so that the juice of His Spirit may flow out through us."

True Christian community is something few believers ever experience, because it requires that each individual let go of 'self' and pour out his life on behalf of others. What does this kind of death mean? It means we must be willing to die to our own interests, reputation, rights, ways of doing things, comfort, convenience, hopes, dreams, aspirations. To 'die' means to lay it all down. To give it all up. To let it all go. When we choose the pathway of brokenness and humility, we are choosing to receive new life- His supernatural, abundant life, flowing in us and through us (John 12.25).