I have bought and consumed hundreds of apples in my
lifetime, but it occurs to me that I have been throwing away the most valuable
part. The fruit of an apple is delicious
and healthy. It is full of vitamins,
sweet, and filling. We even have a
proverb about the value of healthy eating that uses an apple to make its
point. “An apple a day keeps the doctor
away.” Yet for all the goodness of the
fruit, the most valuable part is in the core.
It is the seeds. Each apple has
the potential to plant several more apple trees each with the ability to
produce hundreds of apples, yet this is the part that almost everyone considers
to be garbage.
This morning, Sophia went outside to check on the two small
cups of dirt in which we planted two of her seeds from her apple. (One is for us and the other is for her Baba.) She was very disappointed to find no trees
sprouting up. There was not even a hint
of green in the fertile black dirt. This
morning she learned why most people throw away their seeds. Growing an apple tree just takes too much
time. It does not seem to be worth it.
There are two spiritual lessons to be learned from Sophia’s experience
with the apple seeds.
First, when we see people’s lives changed through the
salvation Jesus gives us we rejoice. We
are filled with joy as we see one piece of fruit from the hard labors of so
many. What we often fail to do is see
the potential in our fellow believers.
Each one is capable of going out and bringing hundreds more into a
personal relationship with Jesus, yet we are content if they just show up at
church 3 out of every 4 Sundays and sing a few songs. We discard the best part of the fruit.
Second, we are impatient.
The few times we actually bother to plant the seed that we have been
given, we are disappointed if we do not see immediate and drastic results. Sophia did the right thing if she wanted more
fruit. She stuck the seeds in dirt,
watered them, and put them in a place where there was sun. Yet she was so disappointed when there was no
sign of growth the next morning. Some
kids might give up at this point and assume that their project was a failure
and a waste of resources. Others might
think that perhaps Sophia is a failure as an apple farmer as her efforts have
produced nothing. They might think, “This
girl can’t grow fruit.” They would be
right. None of us can really produce
fruit in either a spiritual or physical sense.
Fruit comes from obedience to God, but God produces the fruit. We can plant an apple seed and water it, but
only God makes it grow. In the same way
we can tell people about salvation through Jesus, but only He can take that
seed and make life out of it. This often
takes time.
Knowing my daughter, I assume she will stick with
this project. She will water the seeds
and take care of them and repot them when they outgrow their cups, and
eventually plant them in the yard. Yet
many of us give up on people when we do not see immediate results. We make this mistake because we think that we
are responsible for results. Yet the
results are not in our hands. They are
in God’s hands. All we can do is be
obedient to His commands to use the seed we have been given.
Are we using it?
