the growing seed

The Kingdom of God is described as a growing seed in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Jesus gives us a description of the stages of growth. The leaf blade pushes through the earth, the plant forms into a wheat stalk, it ripens, and then it is time to harvest. As I thinking about this and how it relates to our struggle of knowing what it means to be like Christ, it helps me to know how important it is to have the seed planted in good soil. As a disciple of Christ, we know it is our hope and goal to be Christ-like. It just sounds like a lot of work to do it.

Have you ever tried to bake bread? I have tried to do this so many times and I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the patience for it. One of the most important ingredients for making bread is yeast. It is an active ingredient that works its way through a ball of dough to get it ready to be a fluffy piece of bread. I get so impatient and don’t let the yeast do its job. So when I make bread, it is too dense, and it becomes rock hard.

We can try to put all of the right ingredients together, set the temperature at the right degree, and hope for the best, but if we don’t let the Holy Spirit, do His thing, if we don’t take the time to let HIM BE ACTIVE! We will be too hard, it won’t turn out like we hope, in the time we hope. Just as a plant goes through stages we need to let the Holy Spirit work with us through the years.

In Stott’s second chapter he talks about the three perspectives that help us understand that we will be with Christ and like Christ.
1. God’s eternal purpose (we have been predestined)
2. God’s historical purpose (we are being changed, transformed by the Holy Spirit)
3. God’s final eschatological purpose (we will be like him.)

Let’s plant our selves in good soil, lets not try to pull the plant out of the ground before its done growing. The Holy Spirit does know what He is doing. I am gratefully for this journey of being Christ-like.