Seed by Seed
Becoming like Jesus is hard. Some days it seems way harder than others, too. You know the days. They are the ones when the kids are fighting, and the dog eats your shoe, and the grocery bagger puts your bananas on the bottom of the bag… THOSE kind of days. Or how about the days that your line at the bank goes WAY slower than ANY other line - and that usually happens when you’re in the biggest hurry. Or when you get paired with “that guy” on a big project for work. THOSE days.
Sometimes, we’re able to keep it together because we remember Christ’s example. Some days, we’re able to keep it together simply because we would look like terrible people to those around us if we didn’t. Some days, we don’t keep it together at all.
So, how do we learn how to react on THOSE DAYS? We become more like Christ.
Being in God’s Word is one of the best tools we have to becoming more like Christ. Reading it regularly helps us to continue to be reminded of how Jesus lived, and how we should live. The Bible is different than most any other book you will ever read, though. Sure, it has amazing stories and great examples, but that is true of many books. Helpful quotes and examples of other people’s journeys? Yup. They’re in there, but they’re in other books, too. The biggest difference? We don’t read the Bible to FINISH. We read the Bible to CHANGE. It’s not about plowing through the pages and content. It’s about absorbing it… taking in the content, learning from it, and applying it to our lives piece by piece. It’s about change.
When God’s Word is CHANGING us from the inside out, we grow. Sometimes it’s fast, but more often than not, it is slow. He changes us bit by bit. He gives us patience when the bananas are smashed, because He’s helping us to see that bagger as a person who needs love rather than someone who is just doing a terrible job. He teaches us to re-prioritize so that we care less about what people think of US, and more about what people think of HIM.
His working is in the process. It’s in the changing. Seed doesn’t grow overnight. It takes time. It takes care, and it takes intentionality. If you’ve ever planted grass seed, you know how this works. You till the ground. You buy the seed. You plant the seed, put straw over it to protect the seed, and you water the seed (and water, and water, and water). You fertilize the seed. As you go through this process, the seed begins to root. If it is cared for properly, it will grow a strong root system, and produce a flourishing yard over time. Neighbors who are watching the process will notice your efforts, and notice the change.
Now, could you plant sod and have it LOOK great right away? Absolutely. But, you would not have been part of the process. Someone else would have done the growing, the caring and the cultivating. You would simply look good to the neighbors, no matter what was underneath.
God cares more about the process and the growth than how we look to others. He cares more about what is underneath. He shapes us more like Him through the growing. I love this quote by Bob Goff from “Everybody, Always”,
“I hear a gentle and kind voice of Jesus reminding me once again to stop
laying sod where He’s planting seed in my life. His reason is simple:
He’s more interested in making us grow than having us look finished.”
So let’s stop trying to look like we’ve got it all together - like we’ve made it. It’s in the process that we grow, and that we become more like Him. We don’t read the Bible to FINISH, we read the Bible to CHANGE. Let’s focus on the change, and becoming more like Him… seed by seed.