One of the first Science experiments I remember as a kid was taking dry pinto beans, wrapping them in a moist paper towel, placing that in a dish and setting it on the kitchen cupboard.
Each day I added a little water to the paper towel and in a few days the seed began to split and the tip of a tiny root began to appear. After a few more days the root got longer and the seed pod split even more.
I was growing beans!
As the root got longer, a shoot started growing from the other end. It didn’t take long for leaves to begin to form and the plant was taking shape. I was a successful farmer. The seed was doing exactly what God designed it to do. It was producing – seems I read those words in the first chapter of Genesis. From the beginning, this is what seeds did.
“The earth produced plant life: plants yielding seeds, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit with seeds inside it, each according to its kind. God saw how good it was.” Genesis 1;12 CEB
As I was thinking about this experiment, I was reminded of the verses I wrote about the other day, you know, the ones about understanding and growing in the fullness of God. Some will say, like I used to, “I know that I will have that fullness once I get to heaven. We all will.” But the Scripture tells us that we are to grow into that fullness here, while we’re still on earth.
I was trying to figure out how the two teachings tied together when I remembered these verses from the Bible.
“As you set yourselves apart by your obedience to the truth so that you might have genuine affection for your fellow believers, love each other deeply and earnestly. 23 Do this because you have been given new birth—not from the type of seed that decays but from seed that doesn’t. This seed is God’s life-giving and enduring word.” I Peter 1:22-23 CEB
Our new life in Christ is a result of the seed of God’s word. Planted in our hearts, God’s word produces eternal life from a seed that will not decay. The pinto bean shriveled and died as the bean sprout got larger but the seed of God’s word won’t decay or die, it continues to feed our new life so that we can grow into the fullness of God.
Amazing!
“Then Jesus said, “This is what God’s kingdom is like. It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground, 27 then sleeps and wakes night and day. The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how. 28 The earth produces crops all by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full head of grain. 29 Whenever the crop is ready, the farmer goes out to cut the grain because it’s harvesttime.” Mark 4:26-29 CEB
God’s character, His love, grow in our lives like that seed of grain grows in the ground. It grows to full maturity. Just look at what the seed that God plants produces.
“ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.” Galatians 5:22-23 CEB
Maybe we all need to start some bean seeds on the kitchen counter just to remind ourselves that God’s word is producing new fruit in our lives!