Jesus Our Example

The gradual development of the plant from the seed is an object lesson in child training. There is “first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.” Mark 4:28, NRSV. He who gave this parable created the tiny seed, gave it its vital properties, and ordained the laws that govern its growth. And the truths taught by the parable were made a reality in His own life. He, the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, became a baby in Bethlehem, and for a time represented the helpless infant in its mother’s care. In childhood He spoke and acted as a child, honoring His parents and carrying out their wishes in helpful ways. But from the first dawning of intelligence He was constantly growing in grace and in a knowledge of truth.TEd 64.1

Parents and teachers should aim to cultivate the tendencies of the young so that at each stage of life they may represent the beauty appropriate to that period, unfolding naturally as do plants in the garden.TEd 64.2

The little ones should be educated in childlike simplicity. They should be trained to be content with the small, helpful duties and pleasures and experiences natural to their years. Childhood answers to the stalk in the parable, and the stalk has a beauty peculiarly its own. Children should not be forced into a precocious maturity. As long as possible, they should retain the freshness and grace of their early years. The more quiet and simple their life—the more free from artificial excitement and the more in harmony with nature—the more favorable it is to physical and mental vigor and to spiritual strength.TEd 64.3

In the Savior’s miracle of feeding the five thousand is illustrated the working of God’s power in the production of the harvest. In multiplying the seed cast into the ground, He who multiplied the loaves is working a miracle every day. By a miracle He constantly feeds millions of people from earth’s harvest fields. Human beings are called upon to cooperate with Him in the care of the grain and the preparation of the loaf, and because of this they lose sight of the divine agency. The working of His power is ascribed to natural causes or to human instrumentality. Too often His gifts are perverted to selfish uses and made a curse instead of a blessing. God is seeking to change all this. He desires that our dull senses shall be quickened to discern His merciful kindness, that His gifts may be to us the blessing that He intended.TEd 64.4

It is the word of God, the impartation of His life, that gives life to the seed, and we, in eating the grain, become partakers of that life. God desires that even in receiving our daily bread we may recognize His agency and be brought into closer fellowship with Him.TEd 65.1

By the laws of God in nature, effect follows cause with unvarying certainty. The reaping testifies to the sowing. Here no pretense is tolerated. Mortals may deceive other mortals and may receive praise and compensation for service they have not rendered. But in nature there can be no deception.TEd 65.2

On the unfaithful husbandman the harvest passes sentence of condemnation. And in the highest sense this is true also in the spiritual realm. It is in appearance, not in reality, that evil succeeds. People in any business or profession who are untrue to their highest responsibilities may flatter themselves that so long as the wrong is concealed they are gaining an advantage. But not so; they are cheating themselves. The harvest of life is character, and it is this that determines destiny, both for this life and for the life to come.TEd 65.3

The harvest is a reproduction of the seed sown. Every seed yields fruit after its kind. So it is with the traits of character we cherish. Selfishness, self-love, self-esteem, self-indulgence, reproduce themselves, and the end is wretchedness and ruin. If you “sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” Galatians 6:8, NRSV. Love, sympathy, and kindness yield the fruit of blessing, a harvest that is imperishable.TEd 65.4

In the harvest the seed is multiplied. A single grain of wheat, increased by repeated sowings, would cover a whole land with golden sheaves. The influence of a single life, of even a single act, may be just as widespread.TEd 65.5

What deeds of love the memory of that alabaster box broken for Christ’s anointing has prompted through the long centuries! What countless gifts that contribution of “two mites” by a poor unnamed widow has brought to the Savior’s cause!TEd 65.6