We can look into another portion of the Word which tells us how the goodness of the self life should be put to death before one can bring forth good fruit. This passage, however, deals more with the self life than with the self itself.

"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). Here the Lord is speaking to His believers. That is why this word is a calling. "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me" (John 12:26). After He spoke these words, He did not leave us in darkness, but He continued by explaining: "He who loves his life [in the original, his soul life] loses it [i.e., in eternity bears no fruit], and he who hates his life [in the original, his soul life] in this world shall keep it [i.e., not being barren] unto eternal life [in the original, the spiritual life]." The teaching here is that the self life should be put to death.

Life is very precious. One can suffer the loss of everything except life. Yet here is a call for us to lose our life. Our self life is endowed to us by birth; it is legitimate and is good. Yet here the Lord requires that we put it to death.

What is this life? This is a natural life, a life that we have in common with all animals, a life with mobility. Our intellect, love, and emotions are all dominated by this life. Every faculty of our body is controlled by this life. Every part of our being is controlled by this life. Although it is not wrong to exercise our intellect, love, and emotions, this dominating life, this life which comes by our natural birth, is not a spiritual life. Unless a spiritual life becomes the expression and the motivating power of all the faculties of the believers, a believer will "lose" his life, that is, he will never bear fruit.

This self life is beautiful and attractive. Our Lord uses wheat as an illustration. The exterior shell of a grain of wheat is very attractive. Its color is golden yellow. Although it is beautiful, it is useless if it remains merely a grain. It must be separated from (or go together with) its companions and fall into the ground—a dark, hidden, suffering place—and die there. When it dies, it will lose its beauty and all it has. It will no longer be an object of man's praise as before.

If we are truly willing to die, and if we truly die, we will lose many praises of man. Our natural beauty will be destroyed. Formerly, we might have had the intelligence to come up with many new reasonings and theories. When the self dies, we will have to wait for the Lord's direction and leading, and will not dare to depend upon our own intelligence anymore. Formerly, we might have had love and could have loved many. We could have motivated ourselves to love the Lord. When the self dies, we will have to let the Lord's love love through us, and we will have to allow the Holy Spirit to permeate our heart with the Lord's love. We will not dare to be motivated by our natural love. Formerly, we might have had emotions and could be joyful, angry, sad, and happy at will; we could fellowship with the Lord through our feelings and could sense His joy. With the death of the self, we will have to let the Lord control our emotions. We will be sorrowful when the Lord is sorrowful. We will be happy when the Lord is happy. We will have to let the Lord have the freedom in us. Even though at times we will lack the sense of the Lord, yet we will have to remain faithful, and we will not change our attitude. We will not dare to change because of the emotions. What seemed profitable to us before will be counted loss for Christ's sake. When we die with the Lord to sin, we let go of the unlawful things. When we are crucified with the Lord to self, we let go of the lawful things. This step is indeed hard to take. Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, and few there are who find it.

What kind of death is this death? This is the death of the cross. The Lord said this Himself (John 12:33). Therefore, we do not have any other choice except to fall into the ground willingly and to die. We should die joyfully with the Lord and participate in the fellowship of His cross. Every day we should maintain the attitude of hating the self life so that we can keep it unto life eternal, that is, bearing fruit unto life eternal and bringing forth many grains. This is not an overnight matter. If this were so, it would have been easy. But our Lord's word is, "...he who hates his life in this world...." We should hate our self life as long as we live in this world. If we practice this unceasingly, our craving self will be stripped of its power.