Real Good Thing!

I first posted this several weeks ago with the intention of continuing the theme for several posts. That intention was overcome by events, so I’ll give it another go.

“First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” Mark 4:28

Ever go through one of those periods where everything you read or hear seems fresh? Where scripture passages take on a new life and present meanings you had never seen before? Where everything you read is like finding a flashlight after stumbling through the dark, banging your shins on all the furniture? Don’t you love it!That’s where I’ve been for the past few weeks. It started when I reopened a book I had picked up about 6 months ago, “Letters of John Newton” published by Banner of Truth Trust. When I first picked it up at a library paperback swap shelf. I glanced through it, skimmed a few of the letters and then set it on the shelf by my bed with a stack of books that I intend to read “one day.”

For whatever reason I picked the book up again and began reading the letters. (Mass transit in D.C. is great for us that love to read.) I would like to say that I really read them this time but I think it was the words and the Lord and not my own effort. The first ones I read were Newton’s series of 3 letters based on the Parable of the seed (not the parable of the sower) in Mark 4, specifically verse 28, “The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the ear, then the mature corn in the ear.” He relates this maturing of crops to the growth of the Christian into maturity.

In the back of my mind I’ve always had an innate sense of failure in my Christian walk and the feeling that I would never “get it right,” thanks in large part to my far-right Church of Christ background. When I read these letters it was like ripping the door off a damp, dark basement. Newton says there are basically three stages of a Christians development, and they are all good and each serves its own purpose. First is the blade. If you’ve ever seen any kind of crop grow you know that when the plant first sprouts through the soil it seems to grow very quickly, almost as if you could watch it get taller. The new Christian is like this blade, “under the drawings of God, which will infallibly lead him to the Lord Jesus Christ for life and salvation. … he believes the word of God, sees and feels things to be as they are there described, … He is convinced of the power of Jesus to save him.” He is zealous. He is on fire. But Newton says that, like the new plant, this Christian is green and weak. His roots are shallow. “…through remaining ignorance and legality, the remembrance of sins previously committed, and the sense of present corruption, he often questions his willingness; and, not knowing the aboundings of grace, and the security of the promises, he fears lest the compassionate Savior should spurn him from his feet.” No doubt, most of us can remember these feelings as we began our life in Christ. Eventually we grow and mature into the second stage…