Our bodies are constantly creating new cells.  Even as we age, our bodies still generate new cells to replace those that have died or been damaged.  It’s life fighting for more life, more growth, more vitality. We’ve all witnessed it when we’ve seen cuts heal.

Our healthy cells strive for growth, too.  It’s why our hair and fingernails grow.  Why our children get taller and their feet outgrow their shoes so quickly.  Cells are multiplying rapidly.  I’ve read that there are trillions of them within our bodies.

But what’s fascinating to me is that each of us started as one single cell.  And how did our cells multiply and make us the people we are today?  By that first cell DIVIDING.  Interesting.  Multiplication began with division.

It reminds me of what Jesus said  in John 12:24 – “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.”

If we want growth in our lives, in our relationships, in our hearts and bodies and minds, it takes sacrifice.  If we want to impact our world exponentially, we first have to “divide” or “die”.  But what does that mean?

We live in a society where getting ahead, being the best is the goal.  So we strive and strive and strive.  And instead of thriving, we end up only surviving.  That doesn’t leave us with much to impact our world with.

But what if we start from a different angle?  What if we “divide” or “die” first by not putting ourselves and our own desires first, but look to the interests of God and others?  What if we come at life from a perspective of giving instead of getting?

It all seems backwards, doesn’t it?  Less of me for greater impact on my world, for greater growth of my soul.  But like that first cell of life, by dividing I actually multiply.  By humbly putting others ahead of myself and looking to serve Jesus more than me, I begin a multiplication process that affects my world.  And in that process, I grow and change , too.

God created me to be full of life so that my attention and the attention of others would be directed towards Him.  He breathed life into us at creation.  He bought back that life for us when His Son went to the cross for us.  That life in us began when Jesus rose from the dead.  And eternal life is waiting for us when our life here is over.

There are places in our lives that have been damaged or broken or have even died. Places that have “divided” in ways we didn’t expect.  But Jesus offers regeneration.  He is “close to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18). He is “the LIFE” (John 14:6).  He is the source of all of the new and healthy “cells”  that are ready to rush in and bring healing and growth.  He wants to pour  “life to the full”  into us (John 10:10).

I want to become more “cellfish” – which all starts with me dividing and becoming less selfish…it gives new meaning to the phrase “less is more”.