Monday, April 2, 2012

Holy Spirit: Tomatos and Potatos

This is an excerpt from an assignment paper submitted for "Gospels" class.

In John 3:6 Jesus says that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, world-renowned plant scientists, Jim Shepherd and Jerry Uyemoto, from Kansas State University visited our farm in north-central Kansas.

Initially they conducted research, they and their families soon became our friends, staying in our home as guests to hunt doves and pheasants.

Even though my parents formal education consisted of a high school diplomas from small, rural schools; they enjoyed my parents humble, serving personalities and thought patterns.

In December 1981, Jim and his wife Flo invited us to Manhattan to watch Kansas State and Louisville compete in basketball. The previous spring Louisville defeated K-State in Elite Eight in a heart-breaker on their way to the national championship.

In the afternoon, before Jack Hartman’s quad defeated Denny Crum’s defending champions, Jim provided my dad and I a tour of his laboratory in Waters Hall on K-State’s campus. I looked through a $100,000 microscope, the absolute best at the time, at a bunch of cells.

Jim was the world’s first to develop a plant that was genetically 50 percent potato and 50 percent tomato. He combined the genetic codes of tomatoes and potatoes. That which was born of the potato genetics was potato, and that which was born of the tomato genetics was tomato.

This plant consisted of two fruits, yet one plant; equivocally believers are sinners and saints until we enter heaven. We are born with solely the genetics of the flesh, the genetics of sin.

Just as the Jim’s plant required a scientist to inject tomato genetics into the potato genetics, we need Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to inject the Spirit genetics into our flesh genetics. Neither the potato, a below ground vegetable of the earth, nor us can achieve this on our own—we depend on another! The above ground tomato is a fruit-fruits of the Spirit-and red—symbolically representing Christ’s blood.

How do we determine whether the tomato or potato produces the greatest yields?

Fertilizer and management determine the yield. If we fertilize and manage for the below ground potato, it will flourish while the tomato diminishes producing little if any fruit. If we fertilize and manage for the tomato, it will produce abundant fruit.

Equivocally, we must choose to fertilize and manage our below ground nature of the flesh, or our above ground fruit, the genetics of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom mandates Christians fertilize and manage for abundant fruits of the Spirit. Our nutrients arrive from scripture, prayer, worship, devotion, and relationships with other believers.

We open our roots to the uptake of proper water and nutrients. The plant fails in earning water and nutrients, rather accepts them as they interact with their leaves and roots; we fail earning being born of the Spirit, Spiritual genetics, other than repenting and confessing with His conviction, believing in Christ and accepting all the spiritual nutrients available in our environments.

One is unable to deceive a plant with improper nutrients; they arrive as truth. Plant health and yield depend upon physical and chemical soil environment congruent with the plant’s design. Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit provide proper physical and chemical soil environment for our Spiritual health and yield, are truth we must worship, speak, and write in truth.

Submit to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, fertilize and manage for the Fruit of the vine / Spirit in your life.

See Christ, Believe Christ, Achieve with Christ!

Rick

Rick E. Meyer
See, Believe, Achieve Inc.
www.rickemeyer.com

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