Sometimes It Takes a Death to Bring New Life
Have you experience the loss of a friend, a job, or a relationship? Painful as these moments can be, sometimes they're the very thing that give birth to new life.
In our human nature, we tend to cling to what is comfortable, safe, and pleasurable. Yet as Genesis 1:27 reminds us, we were created in the image and likeness of God, with the ability to see beyond the natural realm and recognize the eternal purpose in every process we face.
Creation itself bears witness to this truth. The seasons follow one another in perfect harmony, beyond human control, obeying only the sovereign will of God (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Just as winter gives way to spring, the kernel of wheat that dies in the ground teaches us that what appears to be loss or pain is actually part of a divine process of multiplication and eternal purpose.
One of the greatest challenges of my life came when I left everything familiar in Curaçao—family, work, and stability—to move to Canada with my husband and two small children while pregnant with our third. We arrived without financial security or connections, carrying only the deep conviction that God was calling us to something greater. That faith became our anchor through every storm of uncertainty.
Over the years, we witnessed God's faithfulness unfold. My husband completed his studies, became a counselor, and was ordained as a pastor. I pursued biblical studies, preparing for the ministry God had placed on my heart. Now, ten years later, we have been shepherding a church in Toronto for five years. Watching lives transform through this ministry fills my heart with gratitude and confirms that God indeed brought us here for His perfect plan.
The Cost of Following Christ
Jesus calls us to a life of total surrender, to the "death" of our carnal desires, habits that don't glorify God, and relationships that pull us from His will. Yet this surrender isn't an ending; it's the doorway to becoming the new creation we are in Christ.
Throughout history, preaching the Word "in season and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2) has cost many believers their lives. Yet their apparent loss became multiplication as the Church grew in number, faith, and spiritual influence. As the early Christian writer Tertullian observed, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
The End That Births the New
Autumn teaches us that falling leaves don't diminish the tree's value. They prepare it for a new cycle of life and fruitfulness.
Similarly, our earthly life is temporary, but what matters is the lasting fruit it produces (John 15:16). The apostle Paul declared with confidence in Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian pastor and martyr, wrote: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." His sacrifice wasn't in vain, and like the grain of wheat falling to the ground, his surrender continues bearing fruit for generations.
So ask yourself today: What areas of my life need to "die" so Christ may be glorified in me?
Choose today to release everything that hinders your spiritual fruitfulness. Live with eternity in view, knowing your life carries divine purpose that extends far beyond this moment.
