SEEDS OF A BRAND NEW LIFE

"(Mark 4:26-29) He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces corn--first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

I have been thinking a lot about seedtime and harvest lately. This is one of those Biblical principles that is so foundational that it affects virtually everything we do. Everyday we are sowing seeds with our words and actions – some intentional, some accidental – but all powerful.

Seeds are nothing less than miraculous little containers of life. God established a principle during creation that says that every seed on earth will produce after its own kind. That means that the fruit of the seed will be a form of the life that is in the seed, which in turn means it is a form of the life that produced the seed. So apples (fruit) carry apple seeds. Apple seeds produce apple trees (life) which can’t produce anything other than, you guessed it, apples. The same is true of love seeds, and faith seeds, and generosity seeds, as well as hate seeds, and bitterness seeds, and greed seeds – which also happens to rhyme.

We are living in a time in this nation where seeds of rebellion, disdain for authority, reckless selfishness, and rejection of God, are really starting to produce their inevitable crop. We are feeling the loss of God and godliness on an unprecedented level in our culture and economy. This is one reason that I don’t believe a true “recovery” can come quickly. Some foundations in the fear of God, and a fresh application of the Word of God to our lives, will have to precede any genuine change in our nation.

Be that as it may, I want to focus closer to home for the remainder of this post. In the verses from Mark’s Gospel that are quoted above, Jesus made it clear that if we want to see a harvest of any particular fruit in our lives, we must become very diligent about planting the right seeds. We will be planting something, so it may as well be the right things. We are going to eat of the fruit of whatever we plant. So, what do you want to be eating in six months, or a year, or two years?

Jesus also pointed out that there is always a time element involved in this process. That means a couple of important things. First, you don’t get everything you want instantly. In fact, most truly great things take time to came to maturity and require patience on our part. Secondly, we can use the “due season” element of seedtime and harvest to our advantage or to our disadvantage. If you have been planting bad seed, use the time-lag to dig as much of it up as you can through genuine repentance. If you have been planting good seed, water and nurture that seed through prayer and fight the weeds that inevitably try to choke out what you are planting.

Finally, Galatians 6:9, 10 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” So develop a never quit attitude about your life. The term “become weary” means, to get tired, faint, give up, quit – essentially to wimp out. Don’t let your current crop make you think that it is all you will ever see. Don’t give up because you don’t like what you have now. Get to work with God and plant a new crop. Sitting in the field crying isn’t getting you any closer to that new harvest is it? If you don’t like your harvest, start today; dig up that soil, plant new seed, and watch patiently and vigilantly, as it grows into something fresh and new. Before you know it, new things, living things, things that will reproduce themselves again and again will be popping up in your life. Then we can talk about your new, increased responsibilities that are related to all the new growth in your life.

THE POWER OF ACCEPTANCE

I wrote this article for another blog that is connected to a small group that Karen and I are leading right now based on the book, The Love Dare. I thought it was also applicable to a wider audience, so I am sharing it here. If you want to look in on The Love Dare blog, you can find it at - http://lovedaregroup.blogspot.com/

As I sit staring at this screen, I am not at all sure that I will be able to put what I am feeling into words. I remember thinking about this the first time I read today’s dare, # 16, Love Promotes Intimacy. There is something about the love and acceptance that comes from only your spouse, that gives you the security and courage to be all that God has designed you to be. I'm not saying a single person can't get there, because that is absolutely not true, but there is something about that safe place of intimacy, the place where someone sees the good and the bad in you but still loves you and believes in you, that enables you to change for the better.

When I met Karen (as an adult, we had known each other as kids), I was in my early 20's, had been born again, but was not really walking with God. I was wrapped up in hang gliding culture, which was a very self-centered and all consuming lifestyle. I had always wanted a relationship with just one woman. I was never interested in dating a lot of girls, I was just made to be a one woman man. Don't get me wrong, I wanted lots of girls physically, but what I craved on the deepest level, I now know was intimacy with just one. Luckily, I was such a klutz with women, that I was rejected by nearly every girl I ever pursued. I wasn't glad then, but I am now.

All that rejection had really shaped a lot of how I perceived myself. I thought I was ugly, (some of you may agree) unlovable, and destined for eternal singleness. I was good at some things, flying, my job, I had good friends, I wasn't stupid and could pick up about anything I decided to learn, but deep inside I felt like a reject. Then Karen came into my life. Her love and acceptance completely transformed me. It was like the good qualities that were in me became stronger, and I had a new confidence to address the things that needed to change.

With her, I could be completely myself. See, that is what I did with everyone anyway. I have never been any good at faking it, or playing social games - that's why I was such a dating failure, I just couldn't stand the whole game, it made me sick. Hence I was just myself from the first moment, and that drove women off like crazy. But where the others rejected the real me, Karen loved the real me. It wasn't that she embraced or encouraged the negative things in me, but she loved me anyway. She didn't nag me and set out to reshape me into what she thought I should be. She knew that it was God’s role, not hers, to change me, but her love simply made me want to be more of a strong and Godly man. I could fail and she loved me anyway. She actually believed in me, and that was the most empowering (I hate that word) thing I have ever experienced apart from the presence of God himself.

I am saying all of this today for two reasons. One is that the process I am describing is exactly how the revelation of God's unconditional love and acceptance for us works. It creates a place of total acceptance (not to be confused with approval of all our behavior) that enables us and empowers us to embrace the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. His love is a safe place in which to be challenged to grow and change. The kind of acceptance I am talking about, never becomes an excuse to stay in our sin, or accept our own shortcomings. It just provides a crucible of safety in which the dross of our old nature can be slowly but surely purged.

Secondly, I want all you wives to know that your love for your husband can be one of the most powerful tools of transformation in his life. Your love brings an inner courage to stand up and face any enemy (even those in his own heart) to overcome any challenge, to do anything in the world that needs doing, and to lay his life down for you and your family.

The world will tell you this kind of loving acceptance is feeding his ego, it's not that at all. Again, I am at a loss for words to tell you how it feels to be a man who knows the love of a wise and Godly woman. But it changed my life. When I say that I could not possibly be who I am today without Karen, I mean it with all my heart. I still have loads of problems, and will always need to grow toward Godliness like everyone, but I have the advantage of doing it in the safe place of intimacy with my wife.

I think this works both ways, although I have to write it from a husband’s perspective. There is a wisdom for all of us to learn about how to love people, particularly those of our own household, into greater and greater displays of Godliness, and God’s purposes for their lives.

WORSHIP NIGHT

Tonight is one of our monthly Worship Nights. This is a time when we get together for a couple of hours to just worship and press into the presence of God. We come with no real agenda other than ministering to the Lord, and allowing Him to minister to us in any way He wants to minister. Each of these nights has a different flavor. Some are more rowdy, some more quiet, but each and every time, the Lord shows up in a powerful way. We almost always spend some time flowing in the gifts of the Spirit.

While we always have wonderful worship on Sunday mornings, I think these nights are different because there is no time limit. We just begin, and we stay as long as it seems to us that God is still ministering. I love it. It is always like taking a big, refreshing drink of water. Where ever you are right now, what ever you might be doing, I hope that from time to time you take the opportunity to simply soak God's presence. There is nothing quite like it.