LIMITLESS (Mother’s Day)

Wheat has been a staple grain crop in the United States for hundreds of years and is the third largest grain crop in the U.S. (behind only corn and soybeans). In the 2024/25 marketing year, the U.S. produced 1.971 billion bushels of wheat from 38.5 million cultivated acres. That equates to about 40-50 bushels per acre (or 2,400 – 3,000 pounds per acre), each bushel holding approximately 1,000,000 individual kernels. To put that into perspective, one bushel of wheat can make approximately 45 boxes of wheat flaked cereal, (i.e. Wheaties). The entire Kansas wheat crop alone could then make 14.5 billion boxes of cereal! That means each of the 11,237 athletes at the 2016 Summer Olympics could be featured on more than 1 million boxes of Wheaties.  However, to produce the wheat needed to make the products we use, some of those kernels must be used as seeds, and those seeds must die to produce the desired results.

Jesus told his followers a parable we find in Matthew 13, about a farmer who is scattering seeds. In his story, the seeds fall on four types of soil: hard soil, rocky soil, weedy soil, and what he refers to as good soil. In three of the cases, the seeds either do nothing or they begin to grow, but because of poor conditions, they die off quickly. Only in the good soil does the seed produce (and produces up to 100 times itself)! However, in each case the seed had to die.

In the week leading up to his death, Jesus refers to this process of the seed dying in a conversation with his followers. In John 12:24 we read, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives.” (NLT) And in Luke 9:23 Jesus tells us, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” (NLT) For us, this means that our fruitfulness in following Jesus is defined by our willingness to “die” to self, putting our own agendas aside, discovering what it is that Jesus wants us to do, and then obediently following his example.

We know that this idea of dying to self is difficult. It often requires us laying down something that we hold dear, something that makes us feel good, or something that is comfortable. But God never promised us comfort or ease. He simply asks us to follow and obey. Jesus also told us that the harvest is great, but the workers are few. Let’s get at it. Let’s be willing to become a seed that God can plant that will produce great fruit for the Kingdom. Let’s be willing to die to self, take up our cross, and follow Jesus so that the harvest doesn’t go to waste.