CoffeeBreak With The Word

Are you certified? OK, stop laughing. Some of us might wonder if we are ‘certifiable’ but that’s not what I am asking today. In our highly specialized society, we learn a skill that allows us to generate an income. To insure a minimum competence, many occupations now require a certification or series of them. A person is trained and when he demonstrates mastery of information and/or ability to perform, he is given a certificate. Some people mistakenly understand Christianity in this way. Want to become a better human being? Start attending a
church. Attend some classes: a Discipleship course, a Marriage/Family
Life seminar, a course on ‘How to Read the Bible,’ …..and then, when you have completed all the classes, you join the church and when you’re handed your membership certificate… bam! … you’re a good Christian!

Don’t get me wrong. Training is great and the Church is commissioned to be a place of instruction. Jesus says that discipleship is a totally different experience than
‘certification.’ While we may certainly be trained in a range of skills related to the Christian life such as Scripture interpretation, relational skills, and prayer; the actual experience of becoming a Christian is an inner process of life transformation. This happens when the Holy Spirit causes us to become spiritually alive. Jesus illustrates it with one of His great stories.
“The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.” (Mark 4:26-28, NLT)

The idea of ‘seed’ in the Scripture is two-fold. The Word speaks of seeds that are planted in the earth and seed as the originator of life as in sperm that impregnates a woman. With that latter sense in mind, we read these words from Peter’s letter.
“You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23, NIV) God, through His Word and, by His Spirit, implants the seed of life in us and a transformational process starts! This is the ‘seed principle.’ Without this mysterious, wonderful, and faith-based impartation of divine life, we may become religious, but we will not become Christian, nor will we ever be able to fully know the life of the disciple that the New Testament describes.

There is certainly a part for you and me to play in enhancing the harvest of spiritual fruit that results when the planted seed grows in our lives. Jesus’ story of the various kinds of soil helps us to understand that. “Some of God’s seed,” He said, “falls on hearts that are as hard as a well-trodden footpath. It never even germinates. Some falls on rocky soil where it starts to grow, but soon dies for lack of root. Some falls into a heart that is receptive but the weeds of a life full of worries and earthly concerns chokes the growth. And, some falls into good, fertile soil, well cultivated. That seed bears a great crop.” (see Mark 4:13-20)
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204:13-20;&version=51;>

So there are two questions that each of should ask:

a. Have I, by faith, received the seed of the Word and experienced the spiritual life that is promised to those who believe and receive?

b. Am I, by daily disciplines of the Spirit (things such as prayer, silence, obedience, service, and study) cultivating the soil of my heart and mind so that the harvest will be plentiful?

Are you merely certified as a ‘nice person who tries hard to be spiritual,’ OR is the seed growing in you? The answer to that question has eternal significance.
________________

O holy Wind of God now blowing,
You are the seed that God is sowing,
You are the life that starts us growing, Spirit, now live in me.

O holy Rain of God now falling,
You make the word of God enthralling,
You are that inner voice now calling,
Spirit, now live in me.

O holy Flame of God now burning,
You are the power of Christ returning,
You are the answer to our yearning,
Spirit, now live in me Amen.

Spirit, Now Live in Me
Bryan Leech © 1976 Fred Bock Music Company