By Ed Jordan
I am startled by the trend occurring in American culture, where many people are fixated only on momentary feelings or impulse decisions. Few people seem to think through the implications of a decision or action to evaluate its long-term effects. Many are busy planting seeds, but without ever considering the type of seeds they are planting, or what will grow from those seeds, or what they will do with the plants that grow from their seeds.
The Bible warns us to be careful about the kind of seeds we are planting. “Don’t be misled --- you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (cf. Galatians 6:7, NLT). We will reap what we sow.
The kind of seeds we plant will produce plants of that same type. We are deluded when we expect a seed we plant to miraculously produce a totally different product than the seed type. The nature of the seed we plant determines the nature of the product it will produce.
This truth is valid in various areas of life. It is true in agriculture and gardening. If we plant corn then corn, and not tomatoes, will grow from those seeds. If we want tomatoes, we have to plant tomato seeds. The plant that grows out of the seed depends upon the nature of the seed that is planted.
This principle applies to what we contribute to relationships as well. If we plant mistrust about others, mistrust grows and we will not be trusted. If we plant trust by trusting others, trust grows and others trust us. If we plant camaraderie, camaraderie grows. If we treat others with disrespect, they will disrespect us. If we respect and honor others, they will likely respect and honor us. If we want our relationships to become all that we dream they can, we must plant quality relational seeds in others first.
Reaping what one sows is also true in developing a successful business. If we want to build loyal clients, we must plant seeds of honesty, generosity, and dependability. Andre Rieu is a musician who has worldwide success, and an incredible fan-base. One reason he is so successful is that he always gives the customers a quality product, and he gives them more than their money’s worth. At his concerts, he will play another half-hour after everyone already thinks that the concert is over.
If we want clients who value the quality of our service or product, we must make sure that our service and/or product has consistent quality, and gives a little more than was expected. Clients return because when they feel that they got their money’s worth, plus a little more. A business grows based upon the seeds that the business plants.
The principle is true in education. If we teach students to analyze and think, some will become analytical thinkers. If we present them with both sides of an issue and train them to be objective in working through the issues, they will become better decision makers. If we plant seeds of self-starting, many will become self-starters.
This ‘harvesting what we plant’ principle is true in our own spiritual lives as well. This Bible verse goes on to say that a person who only plants seeds in his/her physical existence, ignoring God and eternity, will reap in the body a harvest of what was planted. However, those who plant God’s truth and faithfulness in their souls, will obtain a spiritual harvest of what they planted. What we plant in our souls is what will grow there. If you never plant anything in your soul, nothing grows there.
Take a few minutes to evaluate what type of seeds you are planting in the various gardens of your life. Before we plant any seed, we ought to pay serious attention to the type of seed we are planting, and what therefore will grow from it. What seeds are you planting that will grow the values of God in your life and in the lives of others? What kinds of seeds are you planting in your loved ones’ and children’s lives?
We must not fool ourselves: We will get back the same kind of product as the seeds we plant, as certain as a tomato seed always produces a tomato plant.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Planting Time: The timing of seed planting influences its success
By Ed Jordan
Spring is here. Many of us are spending time preparing the soil for planting. There are certain principles that remain consistent in the process of planting seeds. In the next few articles we will look at some of these principles, which are not just true in agriculture. They are also true in our relationships, in our families, in our business dealings, in our education systems, in our nation, in politics… etc., etc.
There are many areas of our lives where we plant seeds that will come up later, and produce a crop. Timeless truth is valid in many areas of life. This is the reason the Christian message is always so relevant. Today, we will focus on the principle regarding the timing of seed planting.
As we begin this series, we must acknowledge that while these principles are timelessly true, there are many factors that can disrupt the natural production cycle of a crop’s harvest. For example, in Idaho you can wait until the proper time to plant your crop and still lose the crop due to a bizarre summer snow or hail storm. But generally there is a time to plant that is safely after the high probability of frost damage. Keep these variables in mind as throughout this series of articles.
Which of us has not enjoyed the warming of spring days, the appearance of blue skies, and experiencing sun-bathed days? I am writing this article during the first week of April, but I am already itching to plant my tomato plants so that the tomatoes have enough time to ripen. You can shake your head and tell me not to do it, but you have the urge, too!
How many times do we fight off that urge, and then finally decide that we have had three weeks of sunshine, so it must be time to plant. We get out in the garden and transplant our little plants into the great outdoors. Two days later we go out to see lifeless stems where there were vibrant little plants. It seems to always be too early to plant our plants here.
The locals talk about waiting until the snowy 7 is gone from the mountain as the guideline for planting. For several years I have waited, and still lost my plants to cold nights. So the timing of our planting, or transplanting, is really crucial to the success we will have in our gardens.
Timing is important in most areas of life. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (HSCB) states: “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:” then continues in verse 2 with “A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot (literally ‘uproot what is planted’).”
There is a time that is fairly ideal for each event. There is an ideal time to propose marriage. There is an ideal time for teaching and learning. In parenting, we speak of using daily events that occur as teaching points or times. Events are often the catalyst of a teaching opportunity.
The teaching point concept means that if a child is asking questions about a particular theme, they are in the mood to learn about that theme. Such a time is normally the best time to address it, because they desire to know and are more teachable at that time. However, the content you discuss with them must always be age appropriate for the child.
This does not mean that we don’t teach our children at other times. We do. We are constantly teaching them through our attitudes, our behavior, and our conversations. But there are ideal times as well.
There are ideal times to discuss a problem in your marriage that needs to be worked on. At two in the morning is rarely that time. There is an ideal time to ask the boss for a raise or reassignment.
The best time to ask forgiveness from someone is as near in proximity to the offence as possible. The longer you wait, the more bad feelings and bitterness develop. It is never easy to admit our mistakes, but it is easier to do it sooner, than later.
There is a time to plant values and proper ideals into our children, and a time when it may be too late. There is a time to seek God. God says that “now” is always the ideal time to seek Him. What is it time for you to be doing?
Spring is here. Many of us are spending time preparing the soil for planting. There are certain principles that remain consistent in the process of planting seeds. In the next few articles we will look at some of these principles, which are not just true in agriculture. They are also true in our relationships, in our families, in our business dealings, in our education systems, in our nation, in politics… etc., etc.
There are many areas of our lives where we plant seeds that will come up later, and produce a crop. Timeless truth is valid in many areas of life. This is the reason the Christian message is always so relevant. Today, we will focus on the principle regarding the timing of seed planting.
As we begin this series, we must acknowledge that while these principles are timelessly true, there are many factors that can disrupt the natural production cycle of a crop’s harvest. For example, in Idaho you can wait until the proper time to plant your crop and still lose the crop due to a bizarre summer snow or hail storm. But generally there is a time to plant that is safely after the high probability of frost damage. Keep these variables in mind as throughout this series of articles.
Which of us has not enjoyed the warming of spring days, the appearance of blue skies, and experiencing sun-bathed days? I am writing this article during the first week of April, but I am already itching to plant my tomato plants so that the tomatoes have enough time to ripen. You can shake your head and tell me not to do it, but you have the urge, too!
How many times do we fight off that urge, and then finally decide that we have had three weeks of sunshine, so it must be time to plant. We get out in the garden and transplant our little plants into the great outdoors. Two days later we go out to see lifeless stems where there were vibrant little plants. It seems to always be too early to plant our plants here.
The locals talk about waiting until the snowy 7 is gone from the mountain as the guideline for planting. For several years I have waited, and still lost my plants to cold nights. So the timing of our planting, or transplanting, is really crucial to the success we will have in our gardens.
Timing is important in most areas of life. Ecclesiastes 3:1 (HSCB) states: “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:” then continues in verse 2 with “A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot (literally ‘uproot what is planted’).”
There is a time that is fairly ideal for each event. There is an ideal time to propose marriage. There is an ideal time for teaching and learning. In parenting, we speak of using daily events that occur as teaching points or times. Events are often the catalyst of a teaching opportunity.
The teaching point concept means that if a child is asking questions about a particular theme, they are in the mood to learn about that theme. Such a time is normally the best time to address it, because they desire to know and are more teachable at that time. However, the content you discuss with them must always be age appropriate for the child.
This does not mean that we don’t teach our children at other times. We do. We are constantly teaching them through our attitudes, our behavior, and our conversations. But there are ideal times as well.
There are ideal times to discuss a problem in your marriage that needs to be worked on. At two in the morning is rarely that time. There is an ideal time to ask the boss for a raise or reassignment.
The best time to ask forgiveness from someone is as near in proximity to the offence as possible. The longer you wait, the more bad feelings and bitterness develop. It is never easy to admit our mistakes, but it is easier to do it sooner, than later.
There is a time to plant values and proper ideals into our children, and a time when it may be too late. There is a time to seek God. God says that “now” is always the ideal time to seek Him. What is it time for you to be doing?
Monday, April 09, 2007
Is Christ Being Formed in You?
I had a very nostalgic experience this month. I went into a farm supply store and saw something I hadn’t seen since my childhood. There on the floor were some feed troughs with lamps attached to them. I had to go look, to see if I was really seeing what I thought it was. As I leaned over to look into the trough, there were the representatives of new life basking in the warmth of the light.
A huge smile came to my face. I instantly was transported hundreds of miles to the south of here, and several decades into the past. One of the wonderful experiences I had each spring was to see my dad bring home a couple of boxes of baby chicks, carrying them in cardboard boxes with straw in the bottom. We would set them up in a place where we could put electric lights near them, shining the heat into the boxes. Their excitement with life, their cheeping, their hunger to grow and live, all were evident in these little chicks.
It is an amazing process, when you think about it. Fertilization occurs, a chick embryo begins to form and develop in the yolk sac. Heat keeps the process going. The yolk sac provides nourishment for the chick’s development within the shell. When the chick is ready to emerge from the shell of the egg, it eats the last of its yolk sac and has food for the transition. It then breaks through the shell, and rests to regain its strength and dry out. Then the little chick begins to develop further in its life cycle, growing quite quickly and developing feathers that can keep it warm without the lamps.
About the same time as I encountered this nostalgic event, I read a little devotional by F.B. Meyer where he commented on Galatians 4:19 (HCSB), which says: “My children, again I am in the pains of childbirth for you until Christ is formed in you.” He said that a person becoming more like Christ follows a process similar to the development of a chick in an egg. When the process begins, the yolk sac is the greater percentage of the substance present there. But as the embryo grows, the chick becomes a greater portion than the yolk. The yolk decreases, while at the same time the embryo is growing.
In a similar way, when a person first receives Christ, our old nature makes up the major content and force of our lives. But the more Christ is formed within us, the more the life of Christ becomes the dominant presence in our lives. Christ being formed in us is a process whereby everyday our lives are becoming more like Christ, and less like our old life.
Paul was concerned that the life of Christ be formed inside every person who becomes a believer in Christ. The Christian life is not just to be ascription to propositional truths about Jesus. The Christian life is inviting Christ to enter our lives and be dynamically formed within us. It is the process of Christ growing inside of a person until Christ is the major substance of our lives, and our former self-centered, destructive life diminishes. The Christian life is allowing our thoughts to be transformed into thinking the kinds of things that Jesus thinks, our values to become the kinds of values that Jesus has. It is being concerned about the kinds of things Jesus is concerned about, and relating to others the way that Jesus relates to us. The Christian life is “Christ living in us,” and this is a process.
Jesus came to give us a new kind of life where He comes inside us to grow and be formed in us. We were like living yolk sacs, full of potential, but in practice just shell-bound blobs. Then the life of Christ begins to grow in us, and our old static life begins to be replaced with the exciting, joy-filled, mobile life of Christ. He begins transforming us to become more and more like Christ both internally, and in our external interactions.
Spring is about new life, new beginnings, and transformation. Is the life of Christ being formed within you? Is Christ or your old self-obsessed life the most dominant influence in your life?
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