“First the Blade, Then the Ear”
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The wheat develops “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full
corn in the ear.” The object of the husbandman in the sowing of the
seed and the culture of the growing plant is the production of grain.
He desires bread for the hungry, and seed for future harvests. So the
divine Husbandman looks for a harvest as the reward of His labor and
sacrifice. Christ is seeking to reproduce Himself in the hearts of men;
and He does this through those who believe in Him. The object of the
Christian life is fruit bearing—the reproduction of Christ’s character
in the believer, that it may be reproduced in others.
The plant does not germinate, grow, or bring forth fruit for itself,
but to “give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.”
Isaiah 55:10
.
So no man is to live unto himself. The Christian is in the world as a
representative of Christ, for the salvation of other souls.
There can be no growth or fruitfulness in the life that is centered
in self. If you have accepted Christ as a personal Saviour, you are
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to forget yourself, and try to help others. Talk of the love of Christ,
tell of His goodness. Do every duty that presents itself. Carry the
burden of souls upon your heart, and by every means in your power
seek to save the lost. As you receive the Spirit of Christ—the Spirit
of unselfish love and labor for others—you will grow and bring forth
fruit. The graces of the Spirit will ripen in your character. Your faith
will increase, your convictions deepen, your love be made perfect.
More and more you will reflect the likeness of Christ in all that is pure,
noble, and lovely.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
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goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”
Galatians 5:22, 23
. This fruit
can never perish, but will produce after its kind a harvest unto eternal
life.
“When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the
sickle, because the harvest is come.” Christ is waiting with longing
desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the
character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then
He will come to claim them as His own.
It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to
hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, (
2 Peter 3:12
, margin).
Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly
the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly