Jesus’ Multiplication: Seed of Dependence or a “Muster Seed”

This month the FACETS are answering this question: How has God turned your little into much? It’s all about Jesus’ multiplication. What a perfect topic for the harvest season, eh? Check out Tracy’s post here. Kim will share next week, and then we have a beautiful guest we want you to meet. Visit us on Tuesdays to read new posts.

Welcome to fall, friend! I (Jennifer) live in the midwest, and the harvests are in. The fields are down, cornucopia decorations are in displays, and piles of pumpkins dominate grocery stores and veggie stands. I don’t dislike everything about the “boo fest” in October, it’s just that I’m fueled by my favorite things in autumn: all things apple, golden pre-harvest fields, colorful leaves, November, and a meaningful Thanksgiving.

The season reminds me God not only makes a crop possible but also multiplies the harvest. Soon I’m recounting the stories that reveal God’s multiplication table (often at the table). Then I ask how those stories relate to mine.

What’s my personal harvest story? Dependence.

A Jesus moment catches my eye. A little background—

Greeks (non-Jews) have come to see Jesus and hope Philip will introduce them. We can’t be sure the introduction takes place; the text doesn’t say. (I like to think it did.) We might assume it was a brow-raising moment, considering rabbis rarely mixed in the Gentile world. Jesus was different.

Then it’s immediately a prophetic moment. The Messiah predicts the crucifixion, though the majority of listeners have no idea.

Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop. John 12:23-24 CSB

More eyebrows jump? Jesus turns attention to the potential in a tiny seed. Seeds were important in the Jewish agrarian culture. For a plant to grow a seed must die, and the crowd knew it. Then a seed has incredible mathematic potential. Whole crops are hidden in a single seed. He knew billions of seeds and a beautiful, large harvest would come from the sacrifice of His life. But He continues.

The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:25

The seed that dies and yields a harvest is inextricably linked to one who “hates his life in this world.” (That’s dependence!) Today the follower of Jesus knows the sacrifice He made and the harvest of followers that came. We know He died to make a way for all of us to be in beautiful, eternal relationship with the Father. We have eternal life with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. (And that’s dependence!)

What’s most important to me is the little faith I began with. I knew placing trust in Jesus was the beginning. Trusting Jesus with all of life is ultimate dependence. As much as I’d like to say I instantly trusted Him with everything, every decision, every hard moment—I can’t. Ease and perfection didn’t come from a single moment. I had moments that were more like a “muster seed” in my own strength. No, it was a tiny step. I leaned into dependence just a little bit. And then a little more. Twenty-odd years later, it’s still a million little decisions I want to make each day. God multiplies my little faithful dependence into much. Sometimes it’s depending on Him more often, or in the bigger things, and in more of the little things. Little things can be as hard or harder than the big things, if I’m honest. It’s tempting to “get ‘er done” in my own way.

The next verse is beautiful. And challenging.

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. Where I am, there My servant also will be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. John 12:26

This is where dependence really shows. I can’t muster a thing on my own, really. A Jesus-dependent faith life looks like the life He lived. It’s a life of seeing and serving others and thinking of them more than your own self. It’s a life that serves Jesus because it serves others. My little dependent moment is a tiny faith step God transforms. A small thing becomes more loving, more frequent, and more—Jesus-like! I’m far from perfect (ask my family), but I’m growing. If you see anything of the dependent life, you know it’s really not me, right? It’s God doing a thing in my life, finishing the work He started, and I’m just revealing a little of that. *wink*

Thanks for reading, friend. The FACETS love to hear from you. What are some of your favorite fall things? Share your thoughts on God’s multiplication in your life here or at the Facebook Page. How has God turned your little into much?