Pumpkin Seeds & Dixie Cups

Monday - January 11th

Devotionals from the Book of James

Scripture to Read Today: James 1:21-25

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Humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts.

James 1:21b

My worst memory from kindergarten happened when Mrs. Eslinger (my teacher) yelled at me for making my butterfly art project incorrectly. I remember Mrs. Eslinger showing my project to the whole class and telling them how I did mine wrong. Yes, I smudged the glue holding the tissue paper in place over most of the project. Yes, my butterfly itself may have looked like a moth that had flown too close to the flame, but I was a five-year-old child, not Leonardo DaVinci!

My favorite part of kindergarten and fondest memory of Mrs. Eslinger involved pumpkin seeds and Dixie cups. Each kid in the class received a Dixie Cup, some potting soil, and three pumpkin seeds. After putting the potting soil in the Dixie Cup, we pushed each of the pumpkin seeds deep into the soil. For the next few weeks, we watered and cared for that little cup.

I eagerly anticipated seeing what changes had taken place overnight as I arrived to class each morning. Mrs. Eslinger celebrated the growth we all saw in our little cups - she even celebrated how well my cup was doing in front of the whole class. To this day, I enjoy time-lapse videos of seeds becoming seedlings, seedlings becoming full-grown plants, and plants bearing fruit.

When I read references in the Bible to our spiritual growth, I think of those pumpkin seeds and Dixie Cups. James 1:21 tells us to get rid of all filth and evil in our lives. It then says, "Humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts." It concludes by saying it is the truth of the Gospel found in God's Word that ultimately saves our souls.

As we get rid of the filth and evil that destroys us, James says we need to embrace the truth of God's Word. We are to do that in humility - submitting to the commands and principles of Scripture. God first planted His truth, His Word, in our hearts when we came to Jesus. Too many Christians celebrate how the truth of the Gospel saved them but then fail to embrace what the Scriptures say regarding the way they live their lives.

Like the soil in the little Dixie Cup, our hearts have the seeds of God's truth planted in us. We need to water and care for those seeds by embracing and obeying what the Bible says. As we do, we grow. As we grow, we eventually bear fruit for Christ in our lives.

Are there parts of God's Word you ignore, neglect, or simply choose to disregard? Humble your heart. Embrace what God is telling you in His Word.

We cannot be fully free of sin and bear spiritual fruit in our lives until we humbly embrace God's Word!