Reflecting on Mark 4:26-29“The seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” (Mark 4:27)
As a Jesus follower, God works in me in ways I do not understand.
Someone may ask me how reading the Jesus stories can help me?
Or how the message of Jesus can transform me more like Jesus?
I will say, as Jesus says in this parable, I ‘do not know how!’
But somehow, after reading these stories for years, they grow on me.
We know this happens in general ways, with other things too.
If we set our minds on ________ (hockey, money, sex, etc.), we are changed.
Somehow the seed we embrace imprints itself on our psyche.
Think of people you know; what are the things they are shaped by?
And what is something that you have focused on, that has shaped you?
Bitterness, the past, political matters, church, desire for something?
Good or bad, it is never neutral; it tends to take over our lives.
Without our realizing it, our lives are changed by it.
A personal example for me was the political situation in the US.
When Trump became president in 2016, I constantly watched the news.
And the more I watched, and talked about it, the more agitated I became.
It was shaping me, and not for the best.
I learned from that experience, and stopped watching the news last November.
The problem hasn’t gone away, but I refuse to let it control my life.
And I am more at peace as a result, and more focused on what is good.
Some may say this is escaping reality, and perhaps it could be.
But I am choosing a different reality to focus on.
The kingdom of God is a reality too, a world governed by Jesus.
He is not a narcissist slashing and hacking and serving himself.
He is not in league with the religious people who serve their own agendas.
Jesus is the living seed, and is producing the good crop, good fruit.
Jesus is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness.
Jesus is faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Wherever you see this fruit, you see the kingdom of God at work.
I choose to focus on this reality, and multiply it more and more.
Like AJF says, “It always comes back to focus on Jesus.”
This is why I spend so much time reading the Jesus stories.
We need to filter the OT and NT (the rest of the bible) through Jesus.
Moses and Elijah are not Jesus, what they write anticipates Jesus.
Peter and Paul are not Jesus, what they write applies Jesus.
Moses, Elijah, Peter and Paul (and the others) are shadows of Jesus.
Reflections of the true light, but not the light themselves.
There are things they write that do not apply to us and our day.
But they are God-inspired examples of the need to apply Jesus.
Like them, we need to plant the Jesus seed in our own lives.
In a sense, Jesus followers are planting seeds of Jesus goodness.
They seem small and weak, and useless against the weeds around them.
But though we don’t know how, this seed grows “all by itself” (Mark 4:28).
Imagine if all Jesus followers actually focused on the fruit of the Spirit.
Not on church, not on politics, not on programs, not on our own comfort.
Imagine if we actively planted ‘Jesus seed’, and not ‘weed seed’?
We become what we focus on, we are changed by what we dwell on.
It can be hard to look away from the unhealthy stuff.
It can be discouraging when the good we try to do doesn’t make a difference.
We need the patience of a farmer, and we need to trust the seed and soil!
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, you have planted me in Cambridge, and that is where I am planting Your seed of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Help me to stay focused on you and Your kingdom. Help me not be distracted or discouraged by the 'weed seed' growing around me. Help me to not grow weary or give up in doing good. Help me to trust that at the proper time we will reap a harvest!
What I need to think about from today’s entry.
Imagine if all Jesus Followers actually focussed on the fruit of the Spirit.
We become what we focus on, we are changed by what we dwell on.
The life of a farmer reminds me how he depends upon God for his crops. He prepares the soil. He plants the seed. But it is the Lord Who gives the increase. I too depend on the Lord for my daily work in my living for Jesus with my words and deeds. I never truly know the impact I have on other people, but the Lord knows. I just need to go on living for Jesus for it is He who gives the increase. Just trust and obey.