“Welcome to the employment office. What can I do to help you find a job, Mister…?”

“My real name is Germinate, ma’am, but you can call me Nate.”

“And you’re a seed, is that right, Mister . . . er, I mean . . . Nate?”

“Yes, ma’am, I’m a seed. Anyway, I’m ready to go to work and fulfill my great potential.”

“And what is your potential, Nate?”

“Fruit, ma’am. Lots of fruit. Tons of fruit.”

“But you’re only a seed. You’re so small and . . . well, insignificant.”

“Yes, ma’am, but plant me in the right environment and watch the fruit fly.”

“All right, Nate, let me see what I have for you here. Ah, there seem to be a lot of openings down on the footpath. Very easy work, and you can start today.”

“Sorry, ma’am, but to grow a lot of fruit, I have to get deep into the soil. Too many distractions on the surface. Besides, my friend Bud was eaten by a bird down there.”

“Mmm, I see. Okay, the foreman in shallow soil is calling for more seeds.”

“I can’t do my best work in shallow soil, ma’am. Too many rocks. I need to send down deep roots and grow tall to be fruitful. What else do you have?”

“Well, there’s always the weed patch, Nate. Things seem to grow well there.”

“Are you kidding? Those bad boys choke out the competition before it can get started. Dropping into the weed patch would be asking to be strangled.”

“You’re being awfully picky, Nate. Do you want work or not?”

“Ma’am, with my potential for growing lots and lots of fruit, I deserve the best environment possible. Don’t you have some good, rich soil all plowed and ready for planting? I can’t be fruitful without it.”

That’s the way it is with spiritual fruit—not apples and oranges and squash and asparagus, but the positive character qualities like love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness that the Bible talks about in Galatians 5:22-23.

You grow those Christlike qualities by welcoming the “seed” of God’s Word into your life—reading the Bible faithfully, listening to it attentively, and thinking about it frequently. As you do, the Word does its amazing work in you. You become the ea­ger disciple that God wants you to be.

TALK: What do you think it means for you to be “good soil”? How are you going to do that today?

PRAY: God, we want to spend time getting dose to you today by reading and thinking about your Word. Thanks that you will grow fruit in us.

ACT: Share with a friend the things God is saying to you through his Word.