Winters are long and cold where we live, and we always put out seeds for the birds to help them survive until spring. Once I was a bit annoyed at a chickadee, as it seemed to be very wasteful of the sunflower seeds. It kept throwing them down from the feeder. Now and then it would choose one, open it and eat it, but many were dropped to the ground.
I decided to check on those dropped seeds and found to my surprise that, although they looked like very ordinary sunflower seeds, there was no kernel inside. Of course, it was the kernel the little bird wanted to eat. Sometimes the outer shell of nuts or seeds develops, but the kernel inside does not grow and mature. The chickadee had no trouble knowing when there was nothing inside. Empty shells are fit only for throwing away.
This story, boys and girls, will help you to understand how God is able to easily tell those who belong to Him and those who are not His own. A verse in the Bible says, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)). When Jesus told Nicodemus that “[you] must be born again” (John 3:77Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)), He went on to explain to him that he needed to be born of the Spirit—He needed that new life inside, and that would make him a child of God.
Nicodemus found it very hard to understand this, and you may too, but Jesus made it simple. He told him that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). If you believe that Jesus was God’s plan to save us and that by Jesus’ death on the cross He paid the price for our sins, you can come to God, telling Him you know you are a sinner and that you are truly sorry for your sins. He loves you and will joyfully receive you and give you His Holy Spirit, and that will mark that you belong to Him. The kernel inside of the sunflower seed is the new life for a future sunflower plant, and the Holy Spirit inside of you marks you out as one of God’s children with a future home in heaven. The Bible calls it everlasting life.
How do we know this for sure? “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:1313These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)).
Do you have that new life that promises a home in heaven?
ML-01/03/2010