I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains just one grain.  But if it dies, it yields a great harvest.

(John 12:24)

Would it be to shocking to say

that Christ's birth

must be our death?

Yet

in a sense

that is true

When Christ is born in our lives

we must somehow die.

We must die

to those misshapen values we once lived by.

We must die

to the prejudices that once governed our lives.

We must die

to the callousness we once harbored

toward our neighbor's hurts and needs.

We must die in these little ways

so that we may live unto Christ

in a large way.

What else

can our Lord have meant when he said:

"Whoever wants to preserve his own life

will lose it

and whoever loses his life for Me

will find it." †

†  Matthew 16:25