THE INFINITE IN THE FINITE SEED
John 12: 24-26: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel
of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The
man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who
hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am,
my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one
who serves me." (NIV)
In this passage, Christ speaks of seeds. Did you know
that archaeologists found seeds stored in the tomb of
the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen when it was opened in
1922? Can you imagine seeds that were several thousand
years old? Did you know they planted these seeds and
they actually ended up growing? Seeds thousands of years
old!
Our lives are just like these seeds. Just as seeds have
resurrection power locked within in them, so our lives
have great potential for God! Although a seed dies when
planted, it resurrects itself and bears fruit. If a seed
is not planted, it will remain only one seed.
If we hold onto our lives, we will never multiply. But
if we allow ourselves to be planted in the Lord, then we
will multiply. We have got to be willing to die to
ourselves and planted in the Lord. When we choose to die
and be planted, then there is an abundant harvest—one
greater than we can fathom!
The call of the passion is to be planted as Jesus was
planted, to lay our lives down as He laid His life down,
and to be willing to die to ourselves. In dying to
ourselves, God can then raise us up and produce a great
harvest for the kingdom of God.
Consider a kernel of corn. Locked inside that kernel is
the potential for stalk, the ears, and the grain—all
just waiting to be released! When we see a kernel of
corn we may not be able to see the stalk of corn, but
the latent potential is there, hidden inside the seed!
You can count the number of kernels on a corn cob, but
you cannot guess at how many ears of corn will
eventually be produced by that one seed. Only God knows
the final count of the harvest!
All of us as seeds are called to be seeds! As seeds
planted in Christ we have the potential to multiply the
Kingdom greatly! As seeds surrendered to Christ we have
the potential to produce an amazing harvest.
We often times, however, don’t consider ourselves
worthy—we don’t consider ourselves that important.
Consider the story of a humble Sunday school teacher who
lived in the nineteenth century.
There was a nineteenth century Sunday school teacher
named Mr. Kimball who was committed to evangelism. In
1858 he led a Boston shoe clerk named Dwight L. Moody to
Christ.
As we know, Moody became a great evangelist. Moody at
one of meetings in England inspired passion for Christ
in the heart of Frederick B. Meyer, pastor of a small
church. F. B. Meyer, preaching to at American college
campus, in turn inspired a student named J. Wilbur
Chapman to surrender his life to Christ. Chapman, who
was involved in YMCA work, ended up sending out a former
baseball player, Billy Sunday, to do evangelistic work.
When Billy Sunday held a revival in Charlotte, N.C., the
people there were so touched they planned another set of
evangelistic meetings, inviting Mordecai Hamm to town to
preach.
During Hamm’s revival, a young man named Billy Graham
heard the Gospel and surrendered his life to Christ.
It’s possible you yourself are one of the tens of
thousands who have come to Christ through the ministry
of Graham.
Countless numbers of seeds have come from the seed of
Kimball who planted His life in Christ so long ago. He
was only a humble Sunday school teacher, but His life
was planted in Christ and the seeds of that life
continue to touch people today.
Brett