A seed is a wonderful thing. There is much majesty and grandeur in what God has created. A seed, however, is small and easily overlooked. Look at the grandeur of the open sky, the flaming sun, the vast ocean – yet the small, insignificant seed is even more awesome. The heavenly bodies are a great distance from the earth. We know comparatively little about them, yet even a child recognizes a seed and knows what it looks like.
In His parables, Jesus used everyday word pictures that everyone recognized. “The kingdom of heaven is like a seed” (Matthew 13:31). God’s seed will achieve its purpose. If you plant it in the ground, it will grow. What wonderful power! It doesn’t matter if the sower was rough or gentle with it – it grows! All that needs to be done is to sow it. The kingdom of God is the same way. Like the seed, it wants to grow.
We don’t have to put energy into the seed. Life is already in it. At creation, God endowed the seed with life. Put a seed into the ground and leave it alone, and a mysterious secretive process will occur. You don’t know how it happens, but one day you notice that where you planted the seed, a bit of green starts emerging. Through the unseen power of the seed, the plant grows until it brings forth fruit. All this happens without your help.
Should we not expect the same to be true for the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is like a seed. God has endowed it with power. We don’t have to supply it with energy. All we need to do is to sow the seed.
Do you suppose the kingdom of God will only provide a small harvest because the seed is so small? Let Jesus give us the answer to this question. He said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32).
You see, someone took a mustard seed – just one! It was the smallest of all the seeds. But this seed developed into such a huge plant that even the birds could nest in its branches. How small was the beginning, and how great it was in the end!
Look at the history of the kingdom of God! A Galilean carpenter was born in a manger because His parents had to bow to the Roman authorities. Now, not only Rome and Italy but the whole world bows down before this Man. No other kingdom developed in this way. What a great development from such a despised beginning!
If we consider the state of the world at the time of the Apostle Paul and compare it to today, we see a huge difference. The social networks and the quality of life have greatly improved. Consider all the blessings that Christianity has brought the world and the positive influence it has had up to now, and consider how the blessings continue to spread out. Surely the kingdom of God started with such a seemingly insignificant seed and grew like a tree.
This parable also applies to our personal life. The small seed of the Word of God falls into our heart, and its mysterious power transforms our whole life, overshadowing all else we do. A tree does not grow from above, and a person does not repent because of external pressure. It is the seed of the Word of God that works from within, which falls into the heart and takes root and grows, and a new birth takes place.
“The seed is the Word of God” (Luke 8:11). A wonderful power lies in the Word of God. We will never fully comprehend it. God Himself has given it life. Our duty is to sow the seed. We have a great responsibility to carefully and diligently sow so that the seed will bring forth fruit for the One who gave it.
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