Fear, The Shell and The Harvest

bamboo

 

This past week I was invited to give message at my local church. The theme for the fall has been “The Harvest is Plentiful But…” Throughout the season pastor has invited us to deal with our but. This week the “but” was fear. This is the scripture from John 12, I was to use as my guide.

24-25 “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

26 “If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

 Allowing God to plant us in the soil means we are willing to go into darkness. That can be terrifying. It certainly was for me. When God said it was time to deal with the depression, I knew that meant going deeper into the darkness. I resisted.

Fear causes us to resist, avoid, control, defend, and so much more. No one wants to face the thing that makes us uncomfortable. Yet, just as the seed springs for in life, so do we. If we let God plant us. The seed around us becomes this shell that we use to protect ourselves from our fears. The only problem is that shell puts distance between ourselves and our loved ones. And, more importantly, it puts distance between us and God.

If you want to hear the whole message, click play on the bar below. Then leave a comment: what’s your fear, how are you helping someone else on their journey, are you in the midst of being planted, how has God’s promises come true for you? God promises new life if we trust Him. Will you?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.