Seeds for a Purpose — Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead

I was back in SNR after a long SNS – Saturday Night Slumber. I was with Frederick, my brother, indecisive over going to SNR or taking my brother out to town. I didn’t want him to feel that I was saturating him with church, yet I was happy that he was enjoying it so much. He even asked me if there was a dream center in Pennsylvannia! The charm of the dream center is like a fast oncoming train — it hits you and runs over you hard. But because Christ is in it, you rise again. I felt a tug in my heart. I could not bear to be right next to Angelus Temple and not go. I had been “robbed” way too many times of this awesome weekend night service.

SNR – April 5 was about seeds. Seeds and Purpose.

Matthew 17:20
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Pastor Brad Reed carries a container of sunflower seeds challenges the audience. Jesus does not use “seed” accidentally, because it is a pretty metaphor, or because he decided to be eco-friendly or reach out to the gardener market. Faith is akin to a seed because it is supposed to grow.

1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.

We don’t get salvation like we get a precious diamond that is too expensive to use, locked away in a safe. We get saved, and then we grow, we mature, and we bear fruit. It was emphasized in the sermon that seeds are planted not to remain in the ground, but to be transferred to another pot and another pot. And finally, the tree can be planted on the ground. “The seed must be cracked to get the life out of it.”

The saddest part is that a lot of people pull out of the ground before the harvest. Stop crawling to the end of the tunnel just short of the light. Stop running the marathon 0.2 miles away shy of the finish line. Pastor Brad said emphatically — “if you don’t finish the marathon, you don’t get any credit!” This is perhaps the most poignant part of Pastor Brad’s sermon – at least for me — because his words hit home. I had gotten out of my comfort zone, stepped up to serve God, yet was giving the doubting and fearful voices in my head more attention than I should. I went through the motions of serving God, hanging by a thin thread.

It’s time to stop running away, and it’s time to face His hands. The hands that will take me gently from my pot and start planting me on the ground. Success, getting there, reaching a goal, scares more people than we realize. Sometimes the finish line is just as scary as the starting line. More than sometimes, we start more races than we finish. The race of our Christian life is a race that’s not negotiable in God’s eyes. We must long for his “well done, good and faithful servant,” the same way that a little girl longs for her mother’s approving smile. Contrary to the popular saying — “Don’t quit while you’re ahead.”

If a seed does not later on produce fruit — it does not fulfill its purpose. If salt loses its saltiness, and light is hidden……

Matthew 5:14-16

14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

We are seeds meant to bear fruit. Salt meant to be salty. Light meant to shine. Go, fulfill your purpose.