Where Are All The Godly Men? - The Garden

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15: 5

Why is it that seeking God, submitting to God, and standing with God, is so important?

Jesus told us to "seek ye first the Kingdom of God." Paul in Ephesians, spent a lot of time telling us to submit ourselves to God and to each other. Here in the 8th verse of John, he tells us- " This is my fathers glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." 

Just as fruit has a seed inside it that produces other fruit when planted, we too have the seed of Christ in us, through His Holy Spirit, that when planted will produce fruit for His kingdom. Several years ago when Jeanie and I were very young, we decided we wanted to plant a garden. This was a new adventure for us, and thus, we had no idea what we were doing. One Saturday, with excitement driving our inexperience, we spent the day clearing our quarter of an acre to plant our garden. We planted just about everything in our little garden. Finally, at the end of the day, tired and weary, we walked away proud of what we had accomplished.

That evening we went out to dinner with some friends and we shared our experience with pride and joy. Our friends were accomplished gardeners. We told them how we had dug each little hole for each vegetable and planted the seed. With a look of question and humor, they asked how many seeds did we place in each hole. We responded with one, of course. They advised us that normally it took more than one seed to get a crop growing. So after arriving back at out home and with the light of a full moon, we were back on our knees struggling to place additional seeds in each exact spot of the original seed.

Surprisingly, our garden did produce much fruit for us. We lived off those vegetables for the rest of the year. The point being, it took preparing the ground, the planting of the seeds, and tending the garden, until the fruit was ready to be harvested. But more important, we were willing to make the effort. We decided we were going to plant some seeds and hope they would produce fruit. Agreeably, we should have studied a little more about gardening before we attempted to produce the fruit. But, with our stumbling efforts, and with the help of our friends, our seeds were planted and we waited to see if the plants would grow.

Our efforts for Christ are much the same way. We have to accept the responsibility that it is our purpose to produce fruit for His kingdom. Our lives should reflect the kind of spirit that attracts others to our garden. It can not just be our spiritual attitude however, we have to take the steps to share the reason for the spirit within us.  When sharing our faith with others through tender care, we will plant seeds for another life to be filled with Christ. In order to do that, it is best that we seek God, submit our lives to Him, and stand with him on a daily basis. 

Some years back, we were in the final stages of completing one of our houses. I had just recently hired a new plumber and, on this particular job, some of the plumbing finishes were not complete. I had notified the plumbing company of this on a few occasions and finally advised them that I could not pay the final bill until these items were taken care of.  A few days later, the owner came into my office demanding his check. He was severely intoxicated and began making threats. After several minutes, I was able to get him to meet me on the job the next day to finish the work and receive his check. 

The following day he was in a much better state and we settled everything in a friendly manner. I invited him over to my car to talk, and in so doing, shared my testimony and the Four Spiritual Laws. I told him to think about this and to call me, or, I would call him in a few days. A week went by, then another week, and  neither of us contacted the other. The next week one of his employees came by my office and told me that his boss had committed suicide. Needless to say, this left the big question, what if I had called? 

Being willing to plant the seed is important, watering the seed is a must, but as Paul states in 1 Corinthians 3: 7- "neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who brings the growth."  Sometimes we don't understand why God does not allow the seed to grow. I think He gives every one who receives the seed a chance to grow. Maybe He needs us to water it more. There again is where the seeking, submitting, and standing can play an important role. But one thing is for sure, whether it is a vegetable seed or a spiritual seed, it is God who makes it grow. Our responsibility is to plant the seed from a life that will bear much fruit.