I'm Sorry, I Only Sell Seeds
/The following is a fable which is not found in the Bible. A woman goes into a grocery store. As she looks around she sees a sign which reads "God's Fruit Stand." "Thank goodness," she says to herself, "it's about time they start selling some good fruit in this store." So she walks over to the fruit stand and says, "Since this is ‘God's Fruit Stand,’ I would like a bunch of perfect bananas, a perfect cantaloupe, and some perfect strawberries." And God, who is standing behind the counter, replies, "I'm sorry, I only sell seeds."
So, what is the point of this little fable? The point is that God created a world which is good. It is, however, a world which is unfinished. Likewise, you and I are unfinished. Our spiritual lives have matured and grown. However, our spiritual lives are not yet fully grown.
During my 42-year ministry at Wyckoff Reformed Church it was a privilege to baptize hundreds of babies. Baptisms are sacred times. But placing water on a baby's head doesn't make them accomplished followers of Jesus Christ. They need to be nurtured. They need to be taught. They need to be prayed with and prayed for. Then I think of teenagers, teenagers who are sprouting their wings, teenagers who are moving toward becoming young adults. The word "adolescent" refers to something that is unfinished. And then there are those of us who have been Christians a lot longer. But I think even we will admit that our lives are not yet complete reflections of Jesus' serving and forgiving.
Jesus once told a parable about seeds (Matthew 13:1-8, 18-23). In this parable God is like a sower who plants seeds with the expectation that they will grow. However, some seeds fail to grow. They do not grow because they fall on hard ground. Other seeds begin to grow but don't continue growing because they fall on poor soil. Jesus then said that there are other seeds which also grow but then get choked out by weeds. Finally, there are some seeds which land on good soil. These seeds blossom and flourish. Now, what is the point of this parable? The point is that there are four kinds of soil. There is hard ground, there is poor soil, there is weedy soil, and there is good soil. The question we all need to ask ourselves is this: what kind of soil am I offering God? What kind of soil am I offering God for the seeds he wants to plant in my life?
Let me be specific about the kind of soil you and I can offer God in order to grow spiritually. First, allow me challenge you to grow in your knowledge of Jesus. The Bible is where we learn about Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and his coming again. Jesus is the "heartbeat" of our Christian faith. There are also other people and places in the Bible that we need to know about.
Second, allow me to challenge you to grow in your praying. Praying is, as you know, the privilege of talking to God. Prayer also changes things. Set aside time every day to talk with God.
Third, allow me to challenge you to grow in your stewardship. The New Testament challenges us to be the stewards, or managers, of everything God has loaned us-including our bodies, families, abilities, and the air we breathe. The New Testament concept of stewardship is that God is the owner and we are responsible to God for how we manage everything he has entrusted to us.
Finally, allow me to challenge you in your loving. Someone has said that a day without some loving act is a day wasted. Every night before we go to bed we should ask ourselves, "What expression of love, even in some small way, did I do today?" And as you ask yourself that question remember how Paul wrote "Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful, love is not arrogant or rude." In other words, love involves more than a warm, fuzzy feeling.
These four challenges, I think, are the good soil for the seeds which God wants to plant in your life. Some people also like to think of these challenges as the rain and sunlight which nurture the seeds which God has already placed in your life.
In Christ,
Rev. David Bach, Pastor Emeritus