“Don’t count the seeds in the Apple,
count the Apples in the seed”
I am continually being reminded by God lately to take into consideration His perspective. Jesus said, “Every good tree bears good fruit.” But within our fast pace “results now” world we are not patient enough to raise up an orchard and believe in the process, we want to manufacture fruit as fast as possible thus compromising the quality for quantity. Who wants a plastic Apple?
Have you ever shown up to church for a nice crisp apple and when you sink your teeth in you found that it’s fake?
I think of Open Life, the church we pastor, in Bonney Lake and how many of those who are engaged and seeing their friends and families lives impacted are those who through many years of seed have shown their apples. Through many invites, many conversations about what is happening in and through our church mobilizing within the community. Through many stories from others about the impact Open Life made in the city, the seed finally gives way to a tree and starts producing fruit that people love to eat before they even realize the source of the harvest. The source is Jesus, and the fruit is fulfilled lives!
Many churches have stopped short of fruit because they lost hope in the seed. God promises that if we will sow it, that seed will bear fruit, 30, 60 or 100 fold. But if we lose faith in the ability God has to make the seed grow, we will lose sight of the apples that will come. And the worse case scenario will be we manufacture something that looks like apples because we have lost faith in Jesus and put our faith in appearances. NO ONE WANTS PLASTIC FRUIT!
Keep your hope in the Apples…the harvest is plentiful, it just might take a few years before the exponential results of faithful sowing kicks in!
