unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
A seed can't remain a seed and be what it is meant to be. Just so, a Christian can't remain in a closed in and buried state and fulfill her purpose in the world. Yet there is trouble for the seed and for the Christian.
The seed contains the potential for life but it is unable to release that potential on its own. The seed needs to be watered in order that it may swell and eventually burst forth from the seed pod. It needs the oxygen of the soil to breath in order to sustain the process of pushing up toward the sun.
The Christian too contains the potential for life given by Jesus, drawing its power from the resurrection.
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; (see First Peter 1:23).
In order for us to break free from the confines of our selfish egos we need to be watered by the Holy Spirit. We need he himself to become the air we breath. Just as with the natural seed, there is a swelling that takes place as our ego is revealed to be too small for all that God intends for us. There are painful moments of bursting forth. But once those happen we are able to breath freely by the Holy Spirit. Even before we break through the topsoil we already begin to experience the life and purpose God has and intends for us.
Just as we ourselves are seeds that must be opened in self-giving love, so too are we meant to be sowers.
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
We learn to trust in the one who himself makes us grow to continue to provide as we continue to offer gifts to the world. He who is the source of the seed of our being is also the giver of all the seeds we can plant.
Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,
so that in all things, always having all you need,
you may have an abundance for every good work.
Just as God works with us to fulfill his purposes in us, so too will he shed his providential care on the sowing we undertake for his sake. For all of this there may be a painful process of growth involved. But that growth is precisely the Holy Spirit breaking down the barriers and bringing forth the fruit.
The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food
will supply and multiply your seed
and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
Michael W. Smith - Breathe
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