A Dead Seed
For my birthday this year, Pinky, my sister, gave me an absolutely adorable agenda to help organize my chaotic life. I've bought planners for myself in the past and I always end up writing all of my important dates down in it, but then I hardly ever use it again. Fortunately, she bought me a planner that I will most definitely use. She purchased it from Whitney Todd of jitneysjournes.co (which you can find at at www.etsy.jitneysjourneys.com) and I've never had a prettier planner before. What makes it so unique and why I'm raving about it is because it is not only functional, but it is faith-based. Each week of each month she has "Dwell Richly Verses" in which to meditate on throughout the week, which I think is fantastic because she brings your focus down to one thing alone instead of a bunch of stuff all at once. You're probably like me working a full-time job, going to school full-time, chasing after two munchkins under the age of 3, trying to maintain a household, and trying to keep a good marriage with your awesome spouse....wait, no you're probably not that crazy. But either way, you are probably just as busy (if not more) and sometimes when there's too much stuff, things tend to get lost in the jumble.
I think this planner was just what I needed because it's going to give me a guideline of where to start some independent study time in my favorite study Bible. In fact, I started yesterday and that is why I'm back after a few years hiatus (again). This is more for me than it is for you, and let's just be clear that I'm just an ordinary person studying on my own and these are my interpretations of what these verses mean to me. They could mean something totally different to you, and these verses could speak to you in a different way than they've spoken to me. That would be why this is called the living word. Ya dig?
Week 1 started off with a verse from 1 Corinthians 15:58: "So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (NLT)
Whitney chose to highlight a portion of the verse: "...Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord..."
This verse prompted me not to solely focus on this passage alone, but rather to read all of chapter 15. This chapter is titled The Resurrection of Christ and is one portion of a letter that Paul writes to the Christians living in Corinth. These Christians were living in an environment surrounded by corruption and every sin under the sun and they were having a difficult time remaining true to their christian beliefs because of what was going on around them, as any person would. I say this last part because I think it is important to remember that Christians are human as well, meaning they may still give in to temptations they know they shouldn't give into. Their conscience will beat them up about it and they will repent, and they will have to draw closer to God in order to resist those temptations. I've found that people tend to believe Christians should be perfect and blameless, but I'm here to tell you that is an unfair judgement and accusation. We are no more perfect than the person who doesn't have Christ in their life, but the difference is that we have the Holy Spirit within us tugging and pulling at us when we make poor decisions. Thank goodness the judgmental are not the actual judge like Jesus is, otherwise there would be no promise for us in Heaven because no one would ever meet those expectations of perfection. The only person who is perfect and blameless is Jesus, and He is the reason I'm writing all of this right now. Paul is answering multiple questions the Christians of Corinth are asking, and in this particular chapter the question is how will the dead be raised and what kind of bodies will they have.
1 Corinthians 15:35-39: "But someone may ask, "How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?" What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. Similarly there are different kinds of flesh--one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish."
Don't get caught up in the fact that Paul says a plant doesn't grow unless it dies first. I know what you're thinking...well, nothing will grow if it's dead. And don't go and Google it, unless you want to--it is a common question, and a seed is alive but it's dormant and only grows under the right conditions. I think the awesome thing about the Bible is that is has so many analogies to help us understand what is trying to be conveyed by the author. I wish I had such great analogies..but I don't. Paul is comparing us to the seed--each of us are different, none of us are the same. When we accept Christ into our lives, he will begin to nurture us and we will begin to grow and blossom into something new. Our old shell dies away, and instead of growing into something from our past life, we're growing into something different from our new life. This not only symbolizes what our bodies will look like after being resurrected, but this can also symbolize what our life on earth looks like after we accept God into our heart. We shed our old shell of a life and become something beautiful. Not to say that nothing bad will ever come our way--even plants and flowers have bad days. Animals try to eat them, dogs pee on them, people step on them.The weather may get cold and freeze them or hot and scorch them, the wind might blow so hard it's difficult for them to stand tall, etc. But the flower keeps going despite these things and occasionally it may flourish under the most extreme circumstance. It continues to be beautiful, a sight for sore eyes. Much like we should try to continue to do, even under the most difficult times.
"So my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable, Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." 1 Corinthians 15:58
I think this planner was just what I needed because it's going to give me a guideline of where to start some independent study time in my favorite study Bible. In fact, I started yesterday and that is why I'm back after a few years hiatus (again). This is more for me than it is for you, and let's just be clear that I'm just an ordinary person studying on my own and these are my interpretations of what these verses mean to me. They could mean something totally different to you, and these verses could speak to you in a different way than they've spoken to me. That would be why this is called the living word. Ya dig?
Week 1 started off with a verse from 1 Corinthians 15:58: "So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (NLT)
Whitney chose to highlight a portion of the verse: "...Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord..."
This verse prompted me not to solely focus on this passage alone, but rather to read all of chapter 15. This chapter is titled The Resurrection of Christ and is one portion of a letter that Paul writes to the Christians living in Corinth. These Christians were living in an environment surrounded by corruption and every sin under the sun and they were having a difficult time remaining true to their christian beliefs because of what was going on around them, as any person would. I say this last part because I think it is important to remember that Christians are human as well, meaning they may still give in to temptations they know they shouldn't give into. Their conscience will beat them up about it and they will repent, and they will have to draw closer to God in order to resist those temptations. I've found that people tend to believe Christians should be perfect and blameless, but I'm here to tell you that is an unfair judgement and accusation. We are no more perfect than the person who doesn't have Christ in their life, but the difference is that we have the Holy Spirit within us tugging and pulling at us when we make poor decisions. Thank goodness the judgmental are not the actual judge like Jesus is, otherwise there would be no promise for us in Heaven because no one would ever meet those expectations of perfection. The only person who is perfect and blameless is Jesus, and He is the reason I'm writing all of this right now. Paul is answering multiple questions the Christians of Corinth are asking, and in this particular chapter the question is how will the dead be raised and what kind of bodies will they have.
1 Corinthians 15:35-39: "But someone may ask, "How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?" What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. Similarly there are different kinds of flesh--one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish."
Don't get caught up in the fact that Paul says a plant doesn't grow unless it dies first. I know what you're thinking...well, nothing will grow if it's dead. And don't go and Google it, unless you want to--it is a common question, and a seed is alive but it's dormant and only grows under the right conditions. I think the awesome thing about the Bible is that is has so many analogies to help us understand what is trying to be conveyed by the author. I wish I had such great analogies..but I don't. Paul is comparing us to the seed--each of us are different, none of us are the same. When we accept Christ into our lives, he will begin to nurture us and we will begin to grow and blossom into something new. Our old shell dies away, and instead of growing into something from our past life, we're growing into something different from our new life. This not only symbolizes what our bodies will look like after being resurrected, but this can also symbolize what our life on earth looks like after we accept God into our heart. We shed our old shell of a life and become something beautiful. Not to say that nothing bad will ever come our way--even plants and flowers have bad days. Animals try to eat them, dogs pee on them, people step on them.The weather may get cold and freeze them or hot and scorch them, the wind might blow so hard it's difficult for them to stand tall, etc. But the flower keeps going despite these things and occasionally it may flourish under the most extreme circumstance. It continues to be beautiful, a sight for sore eyes. Much like we should try to continue to do, even under the most difficult times.
"So my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable, Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." 1 Corinthians 15:58
Comments
Post a Comment