If you’ve ever grown anything from seeds, you know that a good seed packet always comes with growing instructions so that you can successfully grow those seeds. On the seed packet pictured here, we are given some very important truths. First, it tells us what these seeds are: carrots. It’s important to know. Because if you’re going to dedicate all that time and effort, you need to know what you’re getting.
The Bible doesn’t mince words about Who our Creator is either. It starts out on the first page with: “In the beginning God” and then it dives right in and tells us that He created everything.
The next thing our seed packet tells us is that the carrots are “the classic flavor favorite.” How audacious to tell us what to think about these seeds! Who do these carrot people think they are!? Yet they make no apologies for their bold statement. Just like the seed packet is telling us what to think about the carrots, the Bible is bold about telling us what to think about God. Why? Because the world is full of false messages about Who God is. It’s been that way since the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1, 5). If we’re willing to trust a seed packet to tell us about the seeds we’re planting, how much more should we trust the Bible to tell us about the God we are worshiping? The most important thing that God wants us to understand about Himself is that He is good. Everything He did in creating us and the world we live in was good, not just good because of quality of craftsmanship, but good in that it all reflects the character of our Creator. We have an all-powerful God Who is good!
Our packet goes on to describe what the carrots will look like, what their texture is like and that it is an “abundant producer.” Scripture tells us about Who our God is and what we can expect of Him, and it shows us again and again that He does all things well. (See Mark 7:37.)
In the middle of our seed packet there is a table with pictures that tells us how carrots ought to live. The Bible is full of instructions on how to live and it comes complete with illustrations of men and women who did right, who did wrong – and who did both. (Thankfully, it also has instructions, complete with illustrations, on how to get right with God when we do wrong.)
The table on our packet tells all about how much light the carrots should have, how far apart each planting row should be, how far each plant should be from each other, how deep to plant the seeds, how long it will take each plant to start growing and how tall each one should get. Why? So we can recognize the difference between good growth and bad growth. Didn’t Jesus say: “By their fruits ye shall know them?” (See Matthew 7:16, 20)
Our packet even tells us when to plant, how to cultivate and how to recognize mature plants. The Bible tells us that the seeds of God’s truth are a little unusual. We’re to plant in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2) and we are to cultivate one another(Hebrews 10:25). It also gives us clear instruction on how to identify those mature enough for positions of leadership. (See 1 Timothy 5:22; 2 Timothy 3)
Instructions for seeds are all well and good, but what does a seed packet have to do with us? In the Gospel of John we are told that God created everything and that when He made man, He planted a seed of truth in his soul. John called it “the light of men,” and by it he meant that everyone is born with at least some understanding that there is a God.
John 1:3-4
(3) All things were made through him, and without him was not [anything] made that was made.
(4) In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
What we do with that seed of truth is entirely up to us. But it’s not like God didn’t leave us a whole Book of instructions on how to cultivate that seed.
Grace in Waves 