FULL TO BURSTING
Everything that the great canvas of creation presents before our collective scrutiny and senses is deliberately designed "for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness and every good work". For how else could it be otherwise since all that is before us as the great spectacle of creation is framed by the Word? And of that Word, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in RIGHTEOUSNESS, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every GOOD WORK." 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17.
"For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." ROMANS 1:20.
"But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." JOB 12:7-10.
For example, there is a deliberate intention behind every man's advancement in a steady sequence from a "new babe" to a "young infant" and, ultimately, to a "mature adult", being a progressional development purposefully baked by design for each man individually, and for all of men universally, one that is simply impossible to ignore and wholly unmistakable to all man's powers of observation and deduction. For this succession is intentionally designed to serve those who are teachable (being those of good soil) in apprehending and appreciating that the season of time that is set before each of us on this side of eternity, is deliberately purposed for man to progress towards the condition of FULLNESS OF MATURITY, not only physically, but in soul and spirit too. So as the head of hair of man is filled over time with the silver of wisdom, so too is the soul of man sanctified unto the silver of righteousness.
It is 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23 that provides both this blessing and admonition: "“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The process of being "sanctified completely" is an incremental succession over time towards the end state of maturity of BEING PRODUCTIVE unto both God and man as a blessing and as a witness. For we are each and everyone of us called to be "trees of righteousness", and every tree is to "produce fruit".
And with that being said, it is unquestionably true, therefore, that "time is precious". For how we ultimately spend the season of time we each have on this side of eternity will not only demonstrate whether we have been "wise" during this time, as in the example of the wise virgins who kept the oil of their lamps well trimmed, or whether we have been "good stewards", as with the parable of the talents, but it will ultimately determine whether the good soil of our hearts and souls bears good fruit both "now" AND "in the time to come". As with the forerunner example established before us all by our Good Shephard who, as a King and a Father, always goes ahead of us to show us the way, then in order that as sons of God that we are seeds that produce good fruit, then as "the seed of Christ", the seed of man needs to likewise "fall to the ground" should they have any possibility of producing fruit. This is a principle of kingdom economics as well as the principle of natural life.
Man lays the seed of his life down in the ground through doing THREE things that, in the end, present the THREE elements of his "body, soul, and spirit" blameless at the coming of the LORD (1 THESSALONIANS 5:23). Which is, firstly, (1) through DENYING OURSELVES (soul element) - which involves aligning our will with the will God in order that His will may be done. Secondly, (2) by TAKING UP OUR CROSS - through which we are able to take up the resurrection power of Christ (spirit element). And thirdly, (3) by FOLLOWING CHRIST - which is demonstrated by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice unto the LORD (body element). This is necessary, since both natural physics and kingdom physics prescribe that before there can be any kind of harvest, there has to first come seedtime.
As such, we are called to sow seeds that may produce a harvest of SILVER AND GOLD "now". And depending on the level of maturity of the seed we ultimately arrive at through "the God of peace" sanctifying each of us, these seeds will also bear either a 30-fold, 60-fold or 100-fold harvest "later" in the next season to follow. Which is why the good soil is the "kind of soul" that does not allow the seedtime available to it now to be DISTRACTED by either the weeds and hard ground of the things of the world, or by the DIVERSIONS of the "innocent indulgences" of the human soul. For the wisdom of the Word says: "But a man is tempted, being drawn away and being enticed by the own desire." JAMES 1:14.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. May the seed that is "our spirit" produce a 100-fold harvest in the good soil of "our souls". Both in this life, and in the life to come. And being thus sanctified into the gold of the "likeness of the divine nature" for good works, and the silver of the "image of righteousness" (2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17), from the good soil of our souls, being the fertile soil lovingly planted with the seed of man's spirit come alive to "the way and the truth and the life" of the Spriit of God, may the bountiful cup of Your abundant harvest overflow like the five loaves and two fish through the heart of "community", being the accomplishment of the Father heart expressed through the hands and hearts of man. Which is the high calling of loving our neighbour as ourselves. This we ask with all thanksgiving and humility, so that the harvest may be plenty, and the barns and storehouse of our LORD's great kingdom may be FULL TO BURSTING.
"'Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.'" HAGGAI 2:19.
"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen." 1 TIMOTHY 1:17.
God's richest blessings for now and all eternity, Wayne Biehn