I love flowers. I regularly have a bouquet of fresh flowers in my room and in my kitchen. I take pictures of flowers all the time. I have a tattoo of a bouquet of wildflowers. What strikes me about flowers, is that they are so diverse and yet so beautiful – all the while coming from a little seed that seems so inconsequential.
Mark uses this agricultural language to describe the way God’s kingdom operates: the Kingdom comes by being planted like a seed and then it grows and flourishes when others respond to God’s call and walk in their eternal purpose.
Mark 4:26 says, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.”
Mark 4:30 says, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God?...It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
In order for us to see a harvest, in order for us to see a field of breathtaking wildflowers, we have to be bold with the Gospel. We have to frequently share the good news of Jesus as if we are being careless with our crops.
We don’t do the work of saving – that’s the power of Jesus – but we do have to operate in our purpose as laborers for the fruit of God’s kingdom. We have the seeds. It’s up to us to be good stewards and plant what’s been given to us. Let the kingdom come.
