“MOTHER, Mother,” Mary called as she ran into the kitchen, letting the screen door slam behind her. “Come see what I have! My teacher gave each one of us a seed and told us to take them right home and plant them.”
“What kind of seed do you have, Mary?”
“She gave me a pumpkin seed.”
“Well, isn’t that wonderful. Now, let’s see. We’ll need a spot where it will get plenty of sunshine, and it will need lots of room for a long vine. Also, your pumpkin plant will need to be out in the open so it can get rain. Let’s go over to the southwest corner of the yard to plant your seed.”
Mary carried her little packet, holding the seed tightly in her hand. First they went to the garage where they found a little shovel and then on over to the spot Mother had suggested.
As they knelt on the soft earth together and planted Mary’s seed, they talked about the pumpkins that would grow. First they would see a plant sprout from the seed, then grow into a vine with big green leaves. Then large yellow flowers would open that would finally turn into the orange pumpkins.
They watered the seed carefully.
Within just a few days there was a little green shoot poking its head out of the ground. Soon it grew into a vine.
Isn’t God’s creation of seeds wonderful? Inside one little seed is the possibility of a plant that will be perhaps eight feet long, have huge green leaves and big yellow flowers. The plant needs just the right amount of sunshine and water, and God’s plan will do the rest to make fruit develop from the flowers.
As the pumpkin vine grew longer and longer, Mary and the other children in the family began to be excited about the pumpkins that would grow. It would be so much fun having a home-grown pumpkin for a pumpkin pie.
Big green leaves and then big yellow flowers formed on the vine. How that little family waited for those yellow flowers to turn into the pumpkins that would be coming along behind them.
But it never happened.
“Mother, what is wrong with my pumpkin plant?” Mary wanted to know.
“Well, Mary,” said Mother, “our pumpkin vine grew leaves and flowers, but for some reason the flowers did not get pollinated. It had to have a grain of pollen from another flower before a pumpkin could begin growing.
“We can be just like that pumpkin plant, Mary. Our plant produced beautiful yellow flowers. Looking at its flowers we could not tell that it hadn’t been pollinated. We could not tell that it had not received that grain of pollen that it needed to grow a pumpkin. We could not tell, until it did not produce fruit for us.
“You know how disappointed we all are that our pumpkin plant has not had any fruit. We have looked forward to having big orange pumpkins, and we have had none. Can you imagine how sad God must be when we do not receive the new life He wants to give us? We cannot become one of His children and produce fruit for Him until we have that new life. We receive that new life by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
“Mary, you know, God tells us that all things work together for good to those who love Him. He intends that even our disappointment over our pumpkin plant will be for our good. It’s actually exciting that He allowed us to have a pumpkin vine with flowers that did not give us pumpkins. There is a lesson here for us.
“You know, Mary, I can’t tell by just looking at you if you have received new life. It is only when you show the fruits of that new life that I can be sure. Do you have that new life, Dear? Have you truly told the Lord Jesus that you have sins that need to be forgiven and accepted Him as your Saviour?”
We cannot play games with God. He knows all about us and He knows our hearts. We have to have our sins washed away in His precious blood to receive that new, everlasting life. Then and only then, when we have that new everlasting life that He gives us, can we bear fruit for Him. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)
ML-04/14/1991