Miracle Life in a Seed

By Janelle Hill

I was only eight years old when the jar, containing moist soil wrapped in blotting paper, sat on the shelf in my room.  Held between the blotting paper and the glass was a seed.  Over several days I watched in wonder as the seed swelled and then burst.  It immediately sent a root downwards and a shoot upwards.  The miracle of biological life was unfolding before my eyes.

The Bible speaks of God’s word and His life as being like a seed.  Matthew 13.  I love this concept of the seed because it helps me in living as a Christian. 

The first thing to understand about the seed of God’s life is that it is His very own life coming to us.  Before time began God planned us to be His children.  Sadly, through the sin of Adam and Eve, mankind has become alienated from God’s life and His loving purpose.  But now we can receive the seed of God’s life, and become exactly who we were designed to be by God long before we were born.  As this seed grows within us we are able to apprehend all the realities of our true identity, participating in dynamic relationship with the Son of God.  Such people simply express the life within, which becomes obvious in the way they live.  They are not driven by rules, standards or expectations, as if their personal worth depended upon fulfilling these.

God’s life comes to us through a spoken word, just like seed being thrown onto the ground.  It comes to everyone.  However, the way we hear and believe God’s word will decide whether or not the seed will take root and grow to produce anything.  If we are not listening for God’s word, and receiving it, the power of His life cannot lodge within us.  It would be like trying to plant a seed on a hard footpath – the seed cannot sprout and grow there.  A listening heart is like soft ground where a seed can easily take root and grow.  We must not only hear the word, but we must also receive and believe that word.  If we only hear the word, and do not believe it and receive it, then the word will have no effect.  In fact, it will be lost, because the enemy of our souls will steal it away like birds at a bowl of grain.

Usually, God’s word comes to us from a person.  This person may be our husband, a family member, a friend, or a preacher at church.  Unless we have closed our ears to God, we will know when He is speaking to our hearts.  When Jesus spoke to His unwitting disciples on the road to Emmaus, after His resurrection, their hearts ‘burned within them’.  Luke 24:32.   God’s word will burn within our hearts, too, if we are ready to hear. 

Of course, we may not like the word that is spoken to us!  In fact we might even be offended when God’s word comes to us, because it is addressing something in us that is not compatible with the life of God.  Even so, we must be ready to hear from God, even if it means hearing something we do not like.  There are many reasons that we do not receive God’s word.  It may be that the word challenges our image as a ‘good person’.  We may also reject the word because it is given by someone from whom we would rather not hear it.  Sometimes we dislike having a family member speak to us.  Living with them, we well know their faults, and it is easy to say in our hearts ‘how dare they speak to me when they have so many problems themselves.’  Often we assess God’s word on the basis of who says it.

We may reject God’s word because we do not want to lose control of our lives or the situation in question.  We are afraid lest things go badly for us, or we lose something dear to us if we fully receive God’s word. 

God wants us to hear and receive all of the word that He has for us.  Home truths are always difficult to receive.  They make us face things about ourselves that we would rather not see.  Of course, God already knows everything about us – He knows us ‘warts and all’, and despite our failures, He loves us.  He wants to free us from our ‘warts’ and from the attitudes, thoughts, and ways that trip us up.  He wants each of us to be the wonderful person He planned us to be.  When we receive the difficult and painful word, God is able to change us, empowering us to live in a way that we never thought possible.

Having had the seed of God’s word planted in our hearts, we must be aware that other seeds can also seek to germinate in our hearts and choke the true seed.  Have you ever seen an old garden in which a small plant was dwarfed and surrounded by weeds – weeds so big that you were not be able to even see the plant from the outside?  This can be the case in our hearts.  The truth of God’s word for our situation can be so dwarfed by our fears, that we lose sight of it.  The weeds of our fears then seem like the truth and they rob us of peace, energy, and sometimes even common sense.  Contrary words, unspoken doubts, expectations and obligations based in our fallen cultures, are all like other seeds which vie for attention.  They grow bigger when we believe their lies, and they choke the truth of Gods’ word in us.  They rob us of the power to live as God wants us to. 

The wonder is that when we look to God’s word, believe it and receive it as the truth, even if our fears shout otherwise, God is able to remove the weeds so we can walk in peace again.  Often it is not until we look back in hindsight, that we see how God has led us faithfully.
In an ear of wheat or a fruit like a melon, all the seeds are grouped together.  This is how God wants us to live too.  We are called to hear God’s word in fellowship, not in isolation.  When we walk together with others, finding God’s will for our lives, we encourage one another and help each other to focus on God’s word to us. 

God wants to nurture His seed-word in our lives so that we are fruitful.  He is like a good gardener, with two green thumbs!  That is why He wants us to be planted together with other believers.  In this way, we can be confident that we are truly hearing God’s word to us.  As we watch out for one another, and speak to each other in love, then we know that the right seed is being planted in our hearts, and others can help us find the weeds that cloud our hearts and minds.