Jesus said, “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. He who loves his life
will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life.” (John 12: 24, 25)
Lady
Anne Grimston, born to nobility and married to a Baron, died in 1713 and was
buried in St. Peter’s churchyard in Herfordshire County, England; but the
wealth she’d enjoyed was dwarfed by the tragedy she’d endured. Both of her children died in childhood. Her husband died at 57 with no heir to carry
on his hereditary title. The story goes that
on her deathbed Lady Anne declared, “I shall not continue to live. It is as
unlikely that I shall continue to live as that a tree will grow out of my body. If, indeed, there is life hereafter, trees
will render asunder my tomb.”
Here’s
a 1908 picture of her grave.
Today,
4 large trees sharing one root grow out of Lady Anne’s marble tomb.
You
may not be British nobility, but if you’re a born-again believer in Jesus
Christ, then your body is more than the fleshy mortal consequence of a merger
between sperm and egg. If you are a
Christian in the genuine spiritual sense of the word, then your body will not
just be a corpse; it will be a seed.
So
also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in
incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. (1
Corinthians 15: 42-43)
Like
Lady Anne’s trees, one day in the sweet by-and-by, you will rise from your
grave, but as Jesus explained to Lazarus’ sisters, there is a real sense in
which the resurrection is now. (John
11: 23-25)
Without
Jesus our sins become our lives. Our lusts
for things, our greed for stuff, the forgiveness we refuse to give, the wounds
we nurture: they come to define us. They
become our lives.
God
bids us die to that life. Nail it all to
the cross with Jesus (Galatians
2:20; 5:24). Give up those ghosts. Be buried with Christ “that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)
Jesus’
Resurrection gives His followers the promise of a personal, bodily resurrection
from the dead one day. The Resurrection
also delivers the opportunity for new life right now.
From
the broken shell of whatever is sucking the life out of you, God can bring
forth life as abundant as 4 great trees in a cemetery.
But
you have to confess your sins and trust in Jesus. Then believe that you shall continue to
live. Believe that it is as certain that
you shall continue to live as it is that trees grow from that body in Herfordshire
County, England. Live that faith and today --- not just hereafter,
but today --- you can render asunder the issues that have entombed you and
break forth into new life.
God,
who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by
grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us
sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2: 4-6)
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
You
can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P O
Box 132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
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