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Here is an interesting concept, but first, we’re going to look at a scenario you’re going to find humorous.

A farmer decides that he wants to grow corn. So he goes out into his field, and he makes all the furrows. He waters the field because he’s been told he must do so in order to yield a crop. He makes sure that he starts watering in the Spring because he’s heard that’s the best time to raise a crop. He fertilizes the soil because he’s heard you should do that if you want good corn. He waters it some more and puts on some bug killer because he doesn’t want the bugs to come and destroy his crop.

He waits, and soon something starts coming up–a bunch of weeds. Angry, he goes out and starts hoeing the weeds. He hoes from sun up to sun down, row after row after row. When he’s finished, he looks out over his field and is incredibly disappointed. He’s done everything right and still no corn!

So he increases the water and keeps chopping at the weeds. After all, that’s what the farmer down the road did and this worked great for him. He keeps this up all summer, and at the end, he is incredibly frustrated. Why didn’t his field produce any corn?

Go ahead. Answer the question.

Why did this farmer’s field not produce corn?

Right.

Because he didn’t plant any!

Now this is going to sound ridiculously simple, but if you don’t plant a seed, I don’t care how much you work and tend that field, you are not going to get a crop.

So I’m going to ask you–have you ever worked to get a crop but forgotten to plant a Jesus Seed first?

In the book I’m reading, “How People Change” by Timothy S. Lane and Paul Tripp, the idea of Jesus as seed is touched upon. Strangely maybe, I have never had cause to think of Jesus this way, but if you start with that metaphor and look at the Bible stories and parables about seed, it will illuminate many new insights.

You see, I don’t care what “crop” you are wanting to grow, without Jesus at the center of it, you’re watering and weeding a crop that is never going to show up. And if it does, it will feel very empty and will almost certainly lead you to death rather than life.

Really. Look at some of the news stories of the past couple years. Bernie Madoff for example. He wanted money, and he scammed and lied and cheated. Clearly he forgot to plant the Jesus Seed first. Instead, he did what the world said would give him what he wanted, and he ended up with a field full of weeds.

Look at some of the stars that have gone off the deep-end. They wanted fame and fortune. They watered their talent and let the sun shine on their careers, but when the weeds showed up and took over, they had no defense against them. The crop of fame and fortune turned to bitterness and regret.

If you want change, if you want a great crop, you have to start with a Jesus Seed. You must plant HIM in the middle of your field. The dreams with Him in the center may not bring you where you thought you wanted to go, but they will always bring you where you were always meant to be.

To plant your Jesus Seed, seek His will for your life, put your desires in His hands and take the steps He’s asking you to take when He asks you to take them. Yes, there will still be watering and weeding, but the Seed of Goodness is the key to having an abundant crop that will lead to a life you cannot even imagine right now!

Copyright Staci Stallings, 2012

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More Than This

by Staci Stallings

All Jake wanted was a cup of coffee and a quiet place to write. What he found was her and far more than he ever imagined could be possible…

Liz Savoy has no plans to date anyone — least of all the dark handsome mystery man who sometimes inhabits the corner table at the coffee shop where she’s working to get through school. But plans change, sometimes in ways no one expected.

Jake McCoy is the next mega-millionaire author, or at least he would be if he could get the stories in his head down on the ether. With no good place to write, he resorts to dark corners in Wi-Fi hotspots, knowing no one in the world cares about him or his comings and goings one way or the other. However, there is one waitress at The Grind coffee shop with a cute smile and kind eyes who doesn’t seem to think he is as invisible as he likes to think he is. Can reality with her ever hope to match the fantasy world where his imagination has him living?

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