May 14, 2015
Seedtime
Elm seeds piled up in the
threshold of my front door, but unfortunately the only place I could sweep them
to was the gravel driveway, the lawn, or the flower bed — all three places a
welcoming habitat because elm seeds will grow anywhere, even in the crack of a
sidewalk. I thought about the parable of the sower. The farmer sowed seed and birds
ate some of the seed on the path, but other seed fell on rocky places, among
thorns, and on good soil. I just realized that I’ve always been so focused on
the landscape, that I’ve overlooked the seed itself. The seed, which is “the
message of the kingdom,” will struggle to grow and survive regardless of the environment
it falls into. (Matt 13:16-23 NIV).
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Gail;
-----You make a good analogy. Elm seeds are everywhere. They even seem to be where there aren’t any elm trees. They are all over the walkway in front of my office door. And there’s nothing but pavement bordering that sidewalk. There is a tree at the end of the office building, but it is no elm tree. Elm seeds challenge every piece of ground like the gospel challenges every individual.
-----But not every individual is called. And that’s a concept still challenging our understanding today. The person who adamantly insists the Lord audibly talked to them are the exceptions to the rest of us who’ve never attributed the Lord’s communication to an audible voice. To the most of us He speaks through circumstances. Over the years I’ve come to consider His calling to be those circumstances of a person’s life tending to sway his perceptions to be receptive of the Lord. Jesus made several distinctions of life circumstances regarding receptivity to seed in the parable of the sower.
-----But still, the gospel message is everywhere presented to every soul. How can that be? Paul said, “And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?” (Rom 10:14) Refined to its simplest elements, the gospel shows life to be through death. Paul also said, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Rom 1:19-20) I’ve never experienced “there’s always a first time” to operate anywhere near as certainly as “everything dies”. Everyday human experience indicates that if there is a salvaged state of eternal life for any of us, it exists on the other side of death. Then the Bible distinguishes that process to be dying to ourselves in turning to Christ who died for our sins. It is that simple, humble, process of observing, learning, and turning which grooms the heart into soil circumstantial to a calling, and thus receptive to a seed.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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