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Cultivating the Seed

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And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 NKJV

Life begins with a seed.

In case you’re wondering where seed comes from, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).

God speaks and establishes all things by His Word. Every seed spoken into existence by God carries unlimited potential, holding within it everything necessary to explode into life.

The seed itself is good. Perfect. Lacking nothing.

But the seed will not emerge as life on this earth without encountering two other elements God ordained to cultivate and release its potential.

Curious? Let me show you.

When God created this earth we call home, He determined that every living thing upon it—all plants, animals, and people—would emerge from seed and carry seed to reproduce. For now, we’ll focus on the green stuff.

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. Genesis 1:11-13

Marvel at the beauty of God’s way: Life begets life. In God’s plan, living things always give birth to new life. Life flows and continues eternally. And God saw that it was good.

I love God’s declaration in verse 11, proving the creative power of His Word. And it was so.

Now I want to show you something interesting in Genesis 2:5-7.

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. (Emphasis mine)

Do you see what I see, dear one?

God spoke all vegetation and seed bearing plants into existence on the third day. And it was so. On the 6th day, God created man, When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up (verse 5).

You may be wondering the same thing that occurred to me. If God had spoken all plant life into existence—and it was so… and God saw that it was good—why was the earth still barren when God made man? Where were all the plants and shrubs?

Listen carefully, dear one.

Our inability to see something with our eyes doesn’t make it any less so.

God’s Word carries creative power. Whatever God speaks is as good as done. Accomplished. Established… in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).

But God desires to see what He established in the heavenly realms revealed on earth’s surface. And the glimpse Genesis 2 gives us into God’s ways at creation also reveals the way He works in our lives today.

God sited two reasons why the earth had not sprouted its vegetation.

  1. The Lord had not caused it to rain
  2. There was no man to work the ground

Interesting.

Apparently our triune God established that life springing up on earth’s surface would emerge through a partnership of three things: seed, water, and a person to work the ground.

We’ve already established that the seed is God’s Word. Perfect. Life-giving. Ready to create.

But Genesis 2 reveals that the fruit of that seed will not show up on earth’s surface without a human vessel to cultivate the soil and living water to open the seed, releasing the life within it.

Jesus said in John 15:8,

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

We spend a lot of time wearily striving to produce fruit. But fruit isn’t manufactured, beloved. It’s grown through the one true Vine.

We can't manufacture fruit. It’s grown through the one true Vine. Click To Tweet

And fruit grows when a human being receives God’s seed—His Word—into a fertile human heart. Our job is simply to soften the ground, cultivating the soil by removing anything that hinders the growth process.

We must dig out anything that blocks belief.

Because when that seed is met with belief in the human heart, the Spirit within it sets the river of life flowing (John 7:38). He waters the seed with Living Water, releasing the power within the seed so that it springs up on earth’s surface.

What already existed—was so—becomes visible. Faith leads to sight.

And the fruit that has surfaced benefits everyone who comes in contact with it, scattering new seed.

So life flows, continuing eternally.

And lasts.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” John 15:16

The Full Rights of Sons

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I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. Galatians 4:1 ESV

A few weeks ago, our opening scripture took hold of me in my quiet time. I haven’t been able to let go of it. I don’t think Jesus wants me to.

You see, you and I are children of God—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)— entitled to the full riches of our inheritance upon maturity.

But we have refused to grow up. So we’re living as slaves instead of heirs.

Jesus wants to see us live out the riches of our inheritance. He lovingly demonstrated this to a woman suffering under a disabling spirit.

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. Luke 13:10-13

Take a moment to picture the woman with me. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself (verse 11).

Perhaps the image hits a little close to home. Have you known oppression so heavy it seemed you couldn’t straighten under its weight? I have. And I experienced it as a believer.

I need you to notice something about this woman. She didn’t approach Jesus for her healing. He called her to Him.

I wonder, dear one. Had she so resolved herself to her situation that it didn’t even occur to her that she could find freedom in Christ? After all, she had suffered under the weight of this oppressive spirit for 18 long years. This was simply who she was.

But Jesus saw something else in her, something only He could know. He knew she was a woman of faith.

How can I say that? Consider His words after the synagogue ruler condemned Him for healing her on the Sabbath.

“You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” Luke 13:15-16

What strikes me here is what Jesus called her: a daughter of Abraham.

Perhaps that seems insignificant to you. There’s nothing too surprising about a Jewish woman visiting the synagogue on the Sabbath.

But Jesus never threw that term around loosely. In fact, several times when Jews claimed to be Abraham’s children, He rebuked them (Matthew 3:9, John 8:39).

So what did it mean that Jesus called this woman a daughter of Abraham?

Romans 9:6-8 sheds some light on it for us.

For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

God only counts children of the promise as Abraham’s offspring. And who are the children of the promise?

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:29

When Jesus proclaimed this woman a daughter of Abraham, He declared that she belonged to Him. She was a woman of faith, a believer who chose to sit in the synagogue listening to the teaching of her Lord.

Listen carefully, dear one. Jesus called her a daughter, yet she remained bent in bondage to an oppressive, disabling spirit. What she suffered physically came directly from the kingdom of darkness, yet she could not conceive that she had the potential to live free of it.

So, in His merciful love, Jesus called her over to Him and told her the truth.

“Woman, you are freed from your disability.” Luke 13:12

I can’t help thinking of John 8:32.

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus called her to Him and simply told her the truth of her condition. She was free. As she embraced the truth He revealed and believed it, she experienced the very freedom He had declared.

Beloved, Jesus still calls us to Him so that He can tell us the truth. Only most of us don’t approach Him when He calls. We find every excuse not to open His Word. Then we wonder why we don’t experience His power.

Freedom is found in truth, and truth is found in Jesus. It’s time we draw near to the Word and start living as heirs of the promise.