December 12, 2012

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. . . . .
"This is what the kingdom of God is like.  A man scatters seed on the ground. 
Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though
he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain -- first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." Mark 4:26-29

Christians Believe that Jesus is the Only Hope that the World Has.
Why is that?

Monday's blog recalled Jesus' teaching that underlying all of the world's problems is the sin which dwells within you and me.  Planet earth houses 7 billion people each of whom views the rest of the world as revolving around him or her.  We are self-centered creatures and that leads to conflict, war, death, divorce, poverty, and environmental destruction.   We are all about ourselves rather than God.  Therefore the one hope for our world lies in the possibility of changed hearts, hearts into which God plants His kind of life so that we are motivated to serve Him rather than ourselves.

It's as if God plants a seed of Himself into each believer and causes that seed of Himself to grow, something like His having planted a seed into Mary and from within her the new life of Jesus grew.  Therein is the hope of the world, the possibility of such a thing taking place in lives all over the planet.

Your part and mine is to allow ourselves to be the fertile soil in which that life can grow.  How?  We can worship, connect regularly with other believers, practice the disciplines of prayer and Bible reading, and choose to live beyond ourselves, as "circle four" believers.

"Lord, it is astonishing that you came to earth to bring us back to you and that you continue to live with us.  Help us Lord to keep our soil fertile so that you may increase and we may decrease.    Amen."