Today’s Gospel reading is a reminder to us that to serve and follow Jesus, we must die to ourselves in small ways and offer our lives to others, serving with love. To die to ourselves means to let go of our own desires and to live a life that puts others first. If we are willing to die to ourselves, that is when God is able to use us to bear fruit.
The culture we live in is very much self-centered and revolves around the “worship of self.” We can see it all around us. How often do we hear phrases and concepts that point to this? “Do what makes you happy.” “Follow your heart.” “Put yourself first.” “My body, my choice.” “Live your truth.” All of these phrases point to a life focused on worship of self and not God. In the Gospel passage, Jesus is not saying to actually hate our lives and existence, but rather, to love Him so much more than we love our worldly comforts and desires, so that those things pale in comparison, so that we choose sacrifice and service for Him above ourselves.
We do need to grow in our personal relationship with Jesus, deepen our prayer lives, and increase our knowledge and understanding of our faith. But, it cannot stop there. Our faith is not just for ourselves. We must allow our own faith and relationship with Jesus to be fuel to serve and give ourselves to others. Our faith should lead to action.
There are so many ways that we can die to ourselves in small ways and serve others. It doesn’t have to be complicated and can simply be giving our time and our comfort. These are two areas where it can be easy to be selfish. We often want more free time for ourselves and we don’t want to get outside our comfort zones. But it is when we say “yes” and pour ourselves out for others, that God fills us to overflowing. Maybe it is joining a new ministry at your parish, volunteering for an event, working on a retreat, sitting down to have a conversation with another who just needs someone to listen, giving someone a ride to church or to the grocery store, and just saying “yes” to something someone asks you to pray about.
We are called to choose to serve Jesus and others above ourselves. We must be like that grain of wheat that dies. My prayer for each of us today is that we would keep our eyes open to ways to serve and give to others, so that we can follow Jesus more fully and bear good fruit in our lives.
Faith and The Good Stuff 