At first, it sounds as though Jesus is telling us to hate the life God has given us. But that isn’t what he means. Jesus is not asking us to reject our life, our relationships, our work, our hopes, or the person God created us to be. He is asking us to examine something much deeper: the life we have built around ourselves.
There is a way of living in which everything revolves around protecting and preserving my life as I have defined it. I want to remain in control. I want things to go according to my plans. I want to be successful, respected, comfortable, secure, and appreciated. I want to hold onto what I have accomplished and protect the identity I have created for myself.
And yet, we can become so invested in protecting the life we have built that we become trapped inside it. Sometimes the life we are trying hardest to protect becomes the very thing that keeps us from truly living.
Jesus uses the image of a grain of wheat to explain this mystery. A grain can remain safely in our hand, protected and untouched. But as long as it remains there, it can never become what it was created to be. It must fall into the ground. It must surrender its present form. Only then can new life emerge.
The same thing can happen in us. God may not be asking us to give up everything we value. He may be asking us to release our grip on those things, so they no longer determine who we are. What might that mean?
– We may need to lose our need to control everything.
– We may need to lose our need to be right, admired, successful, or needed.
– We may need to let go of old resentments and wounds that have become part
of our identity.
– We may need to surrender the belief that our accomplishments, possessions,
or other people’s approval determine our worth.
These things aren’t necessarily bad in themselves. The problem begins when something good becomes something we believe we cannot live without.
Jesus is inviting us to a different way of living. Instead of constantly asking, “How can I protect the life I have built?” we begin asking, “What is God inviting me to surrender so that I can receive the life He wants to give me?”
That is the paradox of the Gospel: surrender can become freedom. Letting go can become receiving. Dying to the false self can become discovering our true self in God. Jesus isn’t asking us to lose ourselves. He is asking us to let go of whatever prevents us from becoming who we were created to be.
And perhaps that is what makes this teaching so challenging. The question isn’t simply, “What am I willing to give up for God?” The deeper question is: “What am I holding onto so tightly that I no longer have room to receive what God wants to give me?”
Perhaps today the invitation is simply to open our hands. Not because everything we have is bad. Not because our life is something to despise.
But because our life was never meant to be possessed. It was meant to be received as a gift. And sometimes, the first step toward eternal life is discovering what we need to let go of in order to truly live. We must give up our life for His life.
