I love beginnings! And I “mostly” only like endings because I know once something is completed, something new is beginning. It’s the part in the middle that I have issues with. Genesis 1:11 ~ And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And so it was that the summer of 1996 a sapling sprung up in the depth of my soul that I believe God planted long before the baby known as Shari was born to Gene and Violet Hardway in Braxton County, West Virginia. Jeremiah 1:5 says “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” So I believe that God sowed a seed in eternity past that He knew would take root, and I believe the same is true with every human on the face of the planet, although every seed sown does not take root. The anomaly (inconsistency) that some get saved (accept Christ as their Savior) has nothing to do with the seed, or the Sower, but the soil for which it was planted. We are still free willed, God won’t force Himself upon us, at least at this point. There will come a day that everyone shall see Him as He is and know that He is indeed Truth and light. But for now, if men and women choose to stay in a state of denial, it’s their choice, and truthfully their loss.
But that fruit after its kind mentioned in Genesis 1:11 has captured my thoughts this morning. When God formed man He created him in the likeness of Himself (Genesis 1:26), and each child born, generation to generation is born from the same seed sown at Creation. Our lineage began with Adam and progressed over the years, or digressed over the years into a generation of people who many consider themselves independent of God; but whether they confess Him as Lord or not they cannot get rid of that seed in their soul that continues to try to take root, even in stoney soil. As Jesus described in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:5-6 “Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.”
But it’s not always a soil issue entirely. Sometimes it’s the lack of growth in those little saplings. There are some trees in the orchard that have beautiful bloom but that’s where it stops. They go to church (on Sunday morning and other “special services” and they look “churchy” when the go. They have a Christian fish on their car and if anyone asks they’re more than happy to tell them they’re a Christian and that everyone should have a home church. But… they are far too busy to make Sunday evening and Wednesday a priority, and sharing the gospel runs the risk of offending “good people” or even worse offending “bad people.” Then there’s the whole issue of church and state and the state they’re in… but they look pretty. I think I’ll start calling them the blossom gang, all flower… no fruit.
God planted the seed within us and if we allow He will continue to fertilize the crop with the expectation that the fruit He’s already given root to and nurtures Himself will be fruit bearing also – in His likeness.
So my question to myself and you as well is are you a member of the blossom gang, or the Alpha and Omega Orchard? There’s a beginning and an end to everyone’s story…