The only way my children like to eat peas is raw, right out of the garden. That means that if I want them to eat peas that they will enjoy eating I have to grow them myself.
I can remember the first time I planted peas in the garden. I had rototilled and raked the soil, marked out three long rows, and dug the furrows. Then I opened the packets of pea seeds that I had bought at the store and poured some out in my hand. How dried-up and wrinkled they were. They did not look like they had any life in them to sprout a plant and roots.
Although I was not sure they would grow, I carefully planted all the seeds that I had and then covered them over with soil.
Gentle rains and even some snow followed this planting. Each day that I could get into the garden I would look for some sign of life—new green leaf shoots in the rows. One week went by and nothing happened. Ten days after the peas were planted the garden again was covered with four inches of wet snow. Although it melted within a few days, I was sure those seeds would not grow. I had been told that peas had to be planted as early as possible in our area, but I must have planted them too early. Nothing would grow in that cold, wet soil.
After several weeks of spring snows and cold rains, I had almost forgotten about my planted peas, even when it finally got warm and sunny. I had gotten discouraged and had quit checking them every day.
Three weeks after planting those peas, I happened to look out a window at the garden and was surprised to see three long, straight rows of tiny pea plants poking through the soil. Those seeds that I thought were dead were alive! And it looked like almost every seed had sprouted a plant! Three rows of new green life had come from those dried-up, wrinkled seeds. What had happened?
Pea seeds, like any other kind of seeds, will not grow if they are left in the seed packet. They look dead and might as well be since the life that is in those seeds is not doing any good. My family could not eat the seeds that were in the packet. Plants, flowers, then pods had to be produced before we could enjoy fresh garden peas.
In the moist soil those dried-up seeds soon absorbed water and swelled up. I could not see this because it was all happening under the ground. Scientists can explain exactly what happens, and it is very complicated. Water starts the press. Then when the right temperature for plant growth is reached, new life—little plants come out of the old seed. The old, wrinkled seed dies, but as it dies in the soil it gives its life to the new shoot—the little green pea plant that will grow and produce the fresh garden peas that we all enjoy.
As we think about the pea and how it grows, we can also apply the same idea to ourselves. If we want everlasting life, if we want forgiveness for our sins, if we want to have peace with God, we must remember how new life is given to us. The new life to the pea came from outside of itself. It was the moisture absorbed by the seed that produced the new growth.
According to the Bible, each of us was “dead in trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1). We were like the pea seeds in the packet. There was nothing we could do to produce life by ourselves. We were “dead” and helpless!
But just as some work had to be done in the garden before we could expect our peas to grow, so work had to be done before God could offer us everlasting life. That work was done by the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us when He died on the cross. Just before He went to the cross, Jesus, looking ahead to what He would complete, said to His Father, “I have finished the work which Thou Gavest Me to do.” John 17:44I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (John 17:4). While on the cross He cried, “It is finished.” Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the only power that can give new everlasting life to you and me. If we accept Him as our Saviour and believe that it was for our sins that He died, then we have new life that can produce fruit which in turn benefits others. Just as the pea plant grows and produces food for others, the Christian will grow in faith and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and will be used in many ways to help others. All of this is from the Lord Jesus Christ “who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).
In John 20:3131But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31) we read that “these [things] are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” Would you like this new everlasting life that only God can give? Or are you satisfied to be a dead seed? If you will not let the power of God through the death of the Lord Jesus give you new life, you are still in that “seed packet.” If you stay there you will have to bear the everlasting punishment that is reserved for those who refuse God’s love and die in their sins.
ML-07/08/1984