Who do we see more often today? Sadly, it is Adam missing the mark in most people. But we would see Jesus. On wonderful occasions our paths cross with those who have Christ's life abiding within them, and we see Jesus -- maybe not in His full glory, but we do see Him just the same. How encouraging it is to see a friendly smile in return for your smile. What a joy it is to hear the voice of the Lord coming from the lips of someone you are talking to which causes our inner man to leap within us. I believe there is an arising within people a desire to really see Jesus. It may be that the people don't even know what it is within them that is crying out for something real and genuine. Of course, that cry is the cry of the whole creation! There certainly is a groaning within all creation, and if you listen close enough you can hear that groaning.

There really is something going on outside the religious boundaries today. People are looking, and they are looking beyond what they have been seeing in the religious world. They are looking for something that has life in it, and not that dead thing that they have seen so much of which is called religion. They are looking for the same One those "certain Greeks" were looking for long ago. No doubt those folks had seen enough of the Jews religion to find out that it was just that, religion. No doubt they had heard about this man called Jesus, and they came looking, AND they found Him! In the midst of all the religious gathering they came and sought Him, and now they were very close. "Sir, we would see Jesus," they told the disciple Philip.

It was then that the Lord spoke some very strange words, words which may have sounded completely unrelated to their inquiry. However, the Lord knew that the time had now come for Him to be glorified. He knew that He could no longer remain just a single "corn of wheat," if He was to feed the whole of creation. There was something He had to do, and He knew it would cost Him His life! He knew that He was going to have to lay down His life like a "corn of wheat," so there could come forth a harvest of His life in the earth. Verse 27 "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour."

Little did those disciples around Him realize the impact of those words. They probably sounded very foreign to them and mysterious. I seriously doubt that those "certain Greeks," were turned away and never got to see Jesus, but our Lord knew that there would be many more Greeks who would have the same desire to see Him. Not only would there be Greeks, but people from every nationality on the face of the earth who would desire to see Him. And it would be a physical impossibility if He were to remain in His single �"corn of wheat" state of being.

Oh, how hard it is to die. And yet, unless we die to the life/love of this world the life we think we have is already lost, but if we lose the love/life in this world, we are keeping it unto life eternal. My son told me once, "Dad, all our fleshly desires of this life is just fertilizer in the field where Christ's Seed is planted." That may sound a bit crude, but think about it. According to the parable of the sower (Luke 8:5), the Seed fell into many different conditions of earth. So it is when the Seed is sown into the lives of people, sometimes the Seed just lays there exposed to the birds of the air, and sometimes the Seed falls in stony places, some on the dry and packed earth, some where awful vines and thorns are growing, and then, there is the good ground where the Seed finds lodging and begins to germinate and spring to life bringing forth a harvest in the nature of Jesus Christ.

Yes, how wonderfully pleasant it is when our paths cross with those in whom this Christ Seed/Life has been planted and is springing up and beginning to come to maturity. It is then that the true essence of His Life is manifest outwardly in a kind and gentle smile emanating from the love of Him Who resides inside. Oh, yes, we would see Jesus! And He is there! Within the hidden recesses of the hearts of people who are considered as the no-bodies of this world. If you were to go looking for Jesus today, you might be surprised where you would find Him. Like those "certain Greeks" who sought to find Jesus, they had to look beyond the religious crowd and seek Him out in the most unlikely places. I have found Him in places where I was not expecting to find Him. Oftentimes, a little old lady who is having a hard time finding her car in the parking lot, will manifest a sweet smile in return for your help, a smile which was birthed in His heavenly Presence. And all of a sudden you find yourself being hugged and you can feel the love and

appreciation for your small and seemingly unworthy gesture. Oh yes, we would see Jesus.

I want to tell you today that that single "corn of wheat" that gave His life for us so many years ago, is now being seen in the lives of a many-membered body of saints which are being more and more conformed into His image day by day.

2Co 4:11-16 "For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."

Amen. Dale Luttrell