Seed Time

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 5
The new seed catalogs are out. What gorgeous flowers! What luscious vegetables! What appealing pictures and descriptions! Giant beans, amazing lilies, super colossal tomatoes; one would think that all that is necessary is to drop the seeds in the ground and stand back to watch them grow.
It doesn’t work quite like that, does it? The new giant beans may turn out like last year’s and be stringy as well. The bugs may feast on the flowers, and the super tomatoes may prove to be hard and tasteless.
But one thing is sure: Not one tomato seed will sprout into a stalk of corn; not one bean will produce tomatoes. The kinds of seeds you plant are the same kinds you will pick; the harvest was determined when the seed was produced.
God says it this way: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)). If you plant corn, you will reap corn—not tomatoes.
You understand that, but do you know that what you sow in your life you will as certainly reap? Can you hear evil, read evil, think evil or watch evil without it becoming a part of you? “They that plow iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same” (Job 4:88Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. (Job 4:8)).
There is more: “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:88For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:8)).
Life everlasting! Not death, not corruption, but life—everlasting life!
Every little seed that sprouts into a living plant is a marvel, but the greatest marvel is how a little seed of faith, planted securely by the grace of God, will sprout and grow and bear the “fruit of the Spirit,” which is “love, joy, peace” and at last—life everlasting! What a harvest!
What will your harvest be?