Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

God has placed so much symbolism for death on this physical earth. Let me try to explain this paradox by some illustrations.

A caterpillar essentially “dies” in its cocoon so that a butterfly can emerge. Consider the spring that follows a harsh, deadly winter. Every year we watch trees lose their leaves, appearing to die; yet they come back to life bigger and stronger than before. Another symbol of life from death around us is the daily example of   ^ * the long, cold night and the warmth of the morning sun rising again. We have to believe that the sun will rise again. Jesus drew a great word picture for us:

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (John 12:24-26)

God wants to build our faith in the idea that life comes from death. If we stay in the cooker, it will dissolve the self-will. If we live and die in the little ways and watch Him give us jewels, character or rewards of any kind after obedience; then we will be able to handle physical death with faith that He is going to take care of us. Then we can truly say with the prophet Hosea, “Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” (Hosea 13:14b). It was rephrased by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55, ” ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ “

God does not want us to be empty bodies without personalities or original ideas. When we die to our will and get off the throne— He puts His great personality (Holy Spirit) in its place. We become unified and married, so to speak. “The two shall become one.” What a fantastic mystery!

He does not want a zombie, but rather a willing servant. This is delicate surgery, and God will not let it go so deep that it kills the very spirit that He is trying to transform. God is performing this delicate surgery of stretching your heart into immortal character. It is somewhat like the artistry of blown glass. If the glass is blown and stretched too hard or too fast, it may break apart. God does not want to stretch our hearts to the point that we break apart; rather, He wants our hearts to grow. The rain showers in our life, when we have to stretch to navigate the puddles, prepare us for the big storms.

We do not need to blame God or get angry at the training of God. After all, God created this “Life from Death University,” and He created the students. Jesus is the Great Professor because He lived out the instructions we should live by.

I would say that the unity that comes from submerging our will into His will is the biggest allure to the suffering and death to self, in that it helps transform us to no longer desire overeating or any other worldly desire. There is no more internal strife or battles—just peace, deep peace.

We do have natural tendencies, or temptations, to jump out of this Desert of Testing. When the cooking pot gets to boiling temperatures, we often quit. I know. I have been in the boiler many times because my own will is so stubborn. We can resist the hand of God and wind up no better for all the pain that we have been through. Such was the plight of the Israelites referred to in Ezekiel 24:10-13:

So heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred. Then set the empty pot on the coals till it becomes hot and its copper glows so its impurities may be melted and its deposit burned away. It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire.

” ‘Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.’”

This is not a pretty picture. Oh, our stubborn hearts! God wants so badly for us to understand His ways and His love for us, but we have some wild, untamed hearts. We are bucking stallions that need to submit to the rider’s hand. Once we understand God’s rules, we can be guided left and right and be allowed to gallop full speed ahead. We are like some of the trees in the fall that refuse to drop their leaves, until a strong November blast removes them. We must yield to His hand. Then we develop the faith to die more and more. None of us has suffered for God so much that we have lost blood. “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4). At almost every public presentation when I address an audience, I ask them, “Do I look dead from dying to my will? No! I look alive!” Do the people in this book who have lost 100 pounds of their will look dead? No, alive! Life comes from death!

That dying produces life is a mystery that confounds the world, but it is the mystery that sets Christianity apart from other religions. And there is a difference between self-selected self-denial just for the praise of man and denial decided by God and accepted because you trust God. Following this path that Jesus walked will bring life to every fiber of your soul.

God wants your soul. All I want to tell you is that life comes from death in such a powerful way. The suffering that we go through to give Him our very soul does not compare to the glory that we enjoy.

When Jesus was in His darkest hour, on the cross with the nails in His hands and feet, feeling forsaken by God, witnesses to the crucifixion called out to Him save yourself… save yourself… save yourself. (See Luke 23.) Save yourself will be the overwhelming temptation when you are giving up more food, being falsely accused by a family member, church member, or co-worker. You will be tempted to take care of yourself and remove yourself from the altar. But if you give in to the temptation, you will miss the incredible work and rescue of the Mighty Warrior and Savior, our God. You will miss it!

God calls us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, but we keep crawling off the altar, jumping out of the cooking pot, or rolling off the surgery table. Do we not know that we will live even more? The answer is to remember Jesus … “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).

Jesus resolutely set out to obey God and face the death He was called to. We must resolutely set out and face Jerusalem—death to this desire to eat. For Jesus said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again” (John 10:17). If you do not, you will miss feasting on the will of the Father.

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