Life After Death

Many times, the above title applies to our eternity in heaven after dying here on earth. Today, I will look at the death of the "self" after receiving Jesus. Andra and I like to ride around and dream of having our own house from time to time, and we go by many of the rich fields that have been planted with corn and cotton, which have great yields in our part of the country due to the soil that allows those plants to really flourish. As those plants come up they are pretty and green, and then over time they bear a crop, but the crop is not ready for harvest until something very strange happens. The plant dies! When the corn plant dies totally, it means the ears of corn are fully developed and ready to harvest. In the cotton plant, the plant turns brown and dies, and the cotton bloom turns into a cotton boll. At the beginning, we love the look of the blooms and the beautiful green colors of the early growth during the establishment of their root system. The plant doesn't stop there, because the end result is something usable and good that we can use for food or clothing.

The plants have to die to produce something that can be used to keep us going. Jesus came as a baby, and he walked on the earth in his early stages of life and became a carpenter like his earthly father, Joseph. At age 30, according to prophecy, he began three years of ministry that included Him calling 12 men to follow Him, and they learned the heart of what He was doing, and then He died. Then Jesus was resurrected, and He sent the Holy Spirit to keep the whole producing more and more results, which we call fruit. Even though Jesus did many things for many people while alive, He did the ultimate when He died and shed His blood for the sins of man. His blood washed away the sins of all who would believe in Him by faith, and so the process continued on again and again.

Like the corn and cotton, Jesus' time on earth had a purpose, and the roots He established were His followers, or you and me, if you have believed. The process doesn't stop with us. Just like the corn, there is a seed derived from the crop that is planted again and again to keep raising more corn. Why? There is more to be produced, and the produce is souls bound for heaven. In order for this to happen today, we must die to "self" and let Jesus bloom more and more in our lives, where people do not just see us, they see Jesus. John 3:¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave^[g] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Part of the following requires us to follow Jesus when He calls, and He DOES call. Matthew 4:¹⁸ One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.¹⁹ Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”²⁰ And they left their nets at once and followed him. ²¹ A little farther up the shore, he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. ²² They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. When we first follow Jesus, our faith is strong, but the process is not complete until we die to self and let the real you and me come to the surface with a strong root system. Self dies over a period of time, and a very usable life emerges. Colossians 2:⁶ And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.⁷ Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

The initial part of this process will always take place if we are connected to the vine in the first place, but then the rest of the processing of dying to self and growing in our faith takes place. John 15:“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. ³ You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. ⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

If you are a believer, then let the whole process take place to keep growing the kingdom, and you will be a true world changer bearing good fruit wherever you go. Here is the end result of our faith and the process. Enjoy the fruit of your labors. John 11:²⁵ Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.^[e] Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. ²⁶ Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren