[Jesus] also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Devotion based on Mark 4:26-29

Hold a seed in your hand, and it appears lifeless. But plant it in the ground, and from that seed emerges a tender sprout that pushes its way up through the soil and grows into a sturdy plant. We can loosen and fertilize the soil and supply ample moisture, but we cannot empower a seed to germinate and grow. It does that all by itself because that’s the way God created it.

Jesus used the nature of a seed to describe the working of God’s Word. When the good news of Jesus was planted in your heart, the power of God caused faith in Jesus to sprout and grow. This happened because God was working through his Word to give you new life and all the blessings of being a child of God.

You can’t produce saving faith on your own; no more than you can cause a planted seed to grow. God accomplished it completely for you. God loves you so much that he brought you to faith in Jesus and still uses his Word in your life to help you grow in faith. Therefore, you can look forward with confidence to the day of the harvest when Jesus will come to gather you and all his believers to be with him in eternal glory.

Prayer: