From Seed to Fruit: The Growth Process – The Seed
Let’s look at the seed. As defined before, a seed is “a young plant enclosed with a food supply; a tiny plant inside a hard outer coat is called an embryo, and is the only part of the seed that can grow.” The seed is the most important part of the plant, since it is by this means that all flowering plants and cone-bearers produce new plants. Under the right conditions, the embryo of the seed will break through the outer coat and push up through the soil into the light. To do this, the seed absorbs water and begins to swell, breaking the “teste” or coat, which contains the embryo. The reserve food inside the seed is digested by the embryo plant, which then resumes its growth and becomes a seedling.
A favorable environment with regard to water, air, light, and temperature will cause the seed to sprout and start developing. Without those vital ingredients present to trigger the seed’s growth, it can lay dormant for many years. A USA TODAY article several years ago reported that some seeds had been found beneath a Tibetan Monastery which had lain dormant in excess of 400 years; but when those seeds were planted, they grew!! Isn’t that good?! It is NEVER too late for the seeds planted inside us by the Holy Spirit to grow!
Comparing this natural process to the spiritual process that I just referenced, when we are born again, the Holy Spirit implants the “seed” of the fruit of the spirit inside our own spirits. I Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, “for you have been born again [that is, reborn from above – spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] not of seed which is perishable but [from that which is] imperishable and immortal, that is, through the living and everlasting word of God.”
Once this seed is planted, like natural seeds, it must have vital ingredients (a favorable environment) in order to spring forth and grow. It does not develop over night, nor does it produce fruit within days or even months. This seed must be cultivated and nurtured with the Word of God. In posts to come, we will look at some of those vital ingredients in order to understand how this “seed,” now planted in our hearts, is stimulated to growth.