“Mother, Mother,” Mary called as she ran into the kitchen, letting the screen door slam behind her. “Come see what I have! My teacher gave each one of us a seed and told us to take them home and plant them.”
“What kind of seed do you have, Mary?”
“She gave me a pumpkin seed.”
“Well, isn’t that nice. Now, let’s see ... it needs a spot where it will get plenty of sunshine and where it will have lots of room for a long vine. Also, your pumpkin plant will need to be out where it can get rain. Let’s go to the southwest corner of the yard to plant
your seed.”
Mary held the seed tightly in her hand. They went to the garage where they found a shovel and then to the place in the yard that Mary’s mother had suggested.
As they knelt on the soft earth and planted Mary’s seed, they talked about how the pumpkin plant would grow. First there would be a sprout from the seed, and then it would grow into a long vine with big green leaves. Then large yellow flowers would open that should become nice orange pumpkins.
They watered the seed carefully.
Within a few days there was a little green shoot poking its head out of the ground. Soon it grew into a vine.
As the pumpkin vine grew longer and longer, Mary and the other children in the family began to be excited about the pumpkins it would grow. It would be so much fun having home-grown pumpkins for pumpkin pie!
Sure enough, green leaves grew large on the vine, and then big yellow flowers followed. The family waited for those yellow flowers to turn into pumpkins. It never happened.
“Mother, what’s wrong with my pumpkin plant?” Mary wanted to know.
“Well, Mary,” said Mother, “your pumpkin vine grew leaves and flowers, but for some reason the flowers did not get pollinated. Each pumpkin flower has to have a grain of pollen from another pumpkin flower before a pumpkin can begin growing from that flower.
“We can be just like that pumpkin plant, Mary. Your plant produced beautiful yellow flowers. Looking at its flowers we could not tell that it hadn’t been pollinated until it did not produce any fruit.
“It is disappointing that our pumpkin plant hasn’t grown any fruit. We looked forward to having big orange pumpkins, and we don’t have any. Can you imagine how God must feel when we do not receive the new life He wants to give us? We cannot produce fruit for Him until we have a new life. We receive that new life by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
“There is a good lesson for us in your disappointment. I can’t tell by looking at you, Mary, if you have received the new life from God. It is only when you show the fruits of that new life that I can be sure that you have it. Do you have that new life, Dear?”
I don’t know what Mary’s answer was. But what about each of us?
We know trees by the fruit they grow. The Lord Jesus talked about people being like trees, and that we know if people are good or bad by what they do. He said, “Wherefore by their fruits [you will] know them” (Matthew 7:2020Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew 7:20)). He also said, “Every tree that [brings] not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 7:1919Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Matthew 7:19)).
There are many verses in the Bible that tell us what the new life of a Christian does. But here is one to think about. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [self-control]” (Galatians 5:22-2322But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22‑23)).
Memory Verse: “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:1919Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Matthew 7:19)-20
Messages of God’s Love 6/16/2024