I enjoy growing fruits and vegetables (and flowers) in my garden. Only I don’t actually make them grow. I simply plant the seeds and let nature take over. I studied biology in college, so I understand a bit about germination and the process of a seed forming roots and pulling nutrients from the soil. Like any good gardener I fertilize and water generously. But how a tiny seed placed in the dirt eventually produces food for my table remains mysterious to me.

Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a seed. He said, This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scattered seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

Like biology, I’ve studied church growth and missions and methods of outreach for years. I’ve led and participated in many such efforts. But the growth of the kingdom remains mysterious. Only God convinces a person to turn their life towards him. I don’t need to know how it all works, but I can scatter seed. Then whether I sleep or get up, pay attention or not, the kernels sprout and grow.

Looking at this world I sometimes wonder how anything good takes root at all. But the kingdom of God emerges in ways I cannot fathom. Mysterious and marvelous and miraculous, God grows his kingdom every day.

Mark 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Markus Spiske