Given March 5, 2010

“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.” John 12:24 NIV.

Last year I planted some corn.  The seeds were dry and would stay that way, getting even drier, the longer they were left alone.  If I laid one on a rock in the sun, it would not fulfill its purpose.  But inside that kernel is its destiny.  And when placed in the right environment and cared for properly, it will thrive.  But before it can produce life…it must be buried and die.

Seeds are placed in the ground and forgotten for a time.  They must be watered occasionally but basically left alone. We have to have faith that they will germinate, grow, and reproduce.  If we think nothing is happening and dig them up to “check on them”, we kill them.  So, we leave them alone.  Do you see a correlation here about our prayers that we “plant” and faith?  So we wait and imagine the bountiful harvest we are going to soon see.  That’s biblical too, (1 Timothy 4:15).  Soon, we see a small green shoot emerge above the surface, reaching for the sun, and it gets bigger and bigger.  You know the process, and, after several weeks, we have a full grown corn plant.  But something amazing has happened!

On that one corn stalk that came from that one seed, there are several ears of corn and on each ear, a hundred or more kernels.  That one seed that died has now produced hundreds of seeds just like itself, its destiny.  Jesus died, was buried, and “came up” desiring to reproduce after His and His Father’s kind.  “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ..We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6: 2,4. Plant a seed of faith today and expect it to reproduce.