Mark 4: 26-29 (NLT)
Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”
If you travel around the Delta, you inevitably encounter one of God’s hair-raising miracles. A seed planted into the soil of Spring bursts from the ground with water and care. It withstands the harsh, dry Summer months and finally, come Fall, is mature and becomes ready for the harvest. Science has told us that water and fertilizer and nutrients allow crops to grow. But what makes that stuff make the crops grow? Those of us in the know realize it’s the hand of God. Under His quiet direction, the stalk rise to provide for our sustenance.
It’s no different for those of us in Christ Jesus. We are a tiny seed planted. We spread a swath of roots to build a foundation and gather good things to help us grow. We burst from the soil a strong believer seeking the Son and the water of baptism. And we await the glorious day in which we either go to Jesus or He comes to us. But who actually permits our growth? Surely not ourselves.
We can make ourselves grow spiritually about as much as that corn seed can make itself grow into a corn-stalk.
