When I was growing up, my grandparents had a small farm that included a big strawberry patch. There was nothing more fun than going to Grandpa and Grandma’s house on Sunday afternoons in June, walking through the rows, and choosing just the right, rich, colorful berries to eat. They were warm from the sun, full of dribbly juice, and as sweet as sugar.

These days, we can get strawberries just about year-around. Grocers ship them in from all over the country (maybe the world) and the pretty red berries are available whenever the craving hits. But have you noticed that these strawberries don’t taste the same as those we ate when we were kids? I used to think it was only nostalgia on my part – maybe everything just seemed better, bigger, and more exciting then.

But I learned something a couple of weeks ago. The folks at Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids have planted what they call a “heritage garden”. In their garden they grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables but only from heritage seeds—those that have been genetically the same for 50 years or longer. Back then, farmers simply would harvest each year’s crop and then save seeds for planting the next year. There were no artificially developed hybrids seeds to create faster-growing, better-looking, or longer-lasting fruits and vegetables as we have today. Although those are good characteristics, there is a downside to hybrid seeds. As a result of the scientifically created hybrids, we can grow things that look better and have a longer shelf life, but they are not as flavorful and, according to scientists, certainly not as nutritious. So Grandpa’s strawberries really did taste better.

My thoughts at Meijer Gardens that day led to others that are even more consequential than the taste of strawberries or the hybridization of seeds. Those thoughts had to do with Jesus’ parable of the Sower and the Seed (Luke 8:4-15). The sower in that parable was throwing out seed on the various types of soils, only one of which was prepared and ready for the seed to take root and produce a crop. Often, in our study of that parable, we focus on the soils, but this week I got to thinking about the seed.

The sower’s seed in Jesus’ parable was the Word of God (Luke 8:11). It was truly heritage seed as it was representative of God’s Word which had been handed down from generation to generation from the time of Moses until the time of Jesus. It was not a hybrid, not diluted, not weakened in any way through the years. It was the pure, powerful Word of God. The difference in the crops that were produced in that parable had to do with the soils - not the seed. The seed was perfect.

Do you sometimes wonder why we don’t have better fruit in our lives or in our churches? After all, the Word is preached, programs are available, Bible studies meet, and prayers are offered. But, too often, the fruit is minimal or colorless or not too tasty. Certainly the lack of good results has something to do with the soils of our hearts. We need to do all we can to prepare both ourselves and others with whom we share to receive the Word of God.

But, I also wonder if part of our lackluster crop has to do with our use of “hybrid seed”? Andrew Murray once said, “Beware of weakening the Word by human wisdom.” We do that sometimes, don’t we? We teach the Bible, but we add our own opinions. Or we decide that we are going to read good Bible-related books instead of reading the Bible itself. But when we do that, we are planting our souls with engineered, hybrid seed. It’s just not the same. And it doesn’t produce the same results.

How much does it matter? It certainly matters a lot with garden seeds. Heritage seeds keep reproducing. The farmer plants, harvests, saves seed, and plants again the next year. Hybrid seeds, for the most part, are sterile. Because they don’t reproduce, the farmer must go back to his source and buy new seed every year. As a result, there are a few large seed companies that now control great portions of the seed supply for the world. If their resources get contaminated in any way, the food supply for the entire world could be at risk. There is more security in many having direct access to the seed instead of having to rely on outside sources or a few large suppliers.

I think the same is true with the Word of God. We want to keep going back directly to the original seed. We don’t want to be content with getting it from a “supplier” – even biblically grounded pastors, professors, parents, or authors. We don’t want to risk any contamination of the pure, powerful seed of God’s message. We don’t want the Word “weakened by human wisdom” – we want it straight from God’s mouth to our hearts. I use these other sources to stimulate my thinking and to challenge my response to the God’s message, but they are only the water and fertilizer for the true and living seed – God’s holy Word.

And God’s Word is the only seed that is guaranteed to bring a harvest. In the parable Jesus told, the seed that fell on receptive soil produced crops up to “a hundred times more than was sown” (Luke 8:8b). Jesus went on to conclude:

“The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:15)

And in Psalms we are given this promise:

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (Psalm 1:1-3)

If we want a good crop, we need pure seed. Let’s keep going back to the source we can trust – the Word of God. The fruit is guaranteed - and it tastes, good, too (Psalm 119:103)!

Anticipating the harvest,

Bev
http://www.beverlyvankampen.com