“And all who would bring forth fruit as workers together with Christ must first fall into the ground and die. The life must be cast into the furrow of the world’s need. Self-love, self-interest, must perish. But the law of self-sacrifice is the law of self-preservation. The seed buried in the ground produces fruit, and in turn this is planted. Thus the harvest is multiplied. The husbandman preserves his grain by casting it away. So in human life, to give is to live. The life that will be preserved is the life that is freely given in service to God and man. Those who for Christ’s sake sacrifice their life in this world, will keep it unto life eternal.” {Christ’s Object Lessons 86.3}

John 12:24 – Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of living recently.  I have seen people my age wasting their lives, and I have seen those on the other end of a wasted life.  A life of no purpose, or the wrong purpose, is an utterly terrifying thing to me.  What is the best purpose?  Christ lived his life to save others.  To give them the opportunity and hope of a present God and a future heavenly home.  Our best purpose, as He asks us, is to follow His life’s purpose.

As I was reading tonight, the above bolded sentence grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go.  How easy it is to live life; to take care of my obligations and my own pursuits.  As we hold our lives in our own hands, to cast them into the world’s need initially seems to throw them away.  Yet in that act we find our greatest purpose, fulfillment and destiny.  We become whole.

Oh God.  Give me the courage and strength to throw myself away.  Guide me in the manner.