A Modern Day Parable

Author Unknown

A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you." The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.

By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the boardroom. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him.

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front.

Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed.  Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!"

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed..

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.  All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.

Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment.

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later. &

 

Divine Providence (Part 1)

By Bob Myhan

By “divine providence,” is meant “the foresight and forethought of the infinite God who planned the creation of man and a world in which to place him—a world in which He could control the destiny of the inanimate creation and direct man to the consummation of His purpose” (Homer Hailey: Prayer and Providence, p.123)

General providence involves God’s support, care and supervision of His material creation from the beginning to the end.

Special providence involves God’s support, care and supervision of His spiritual creation. He is able to provide for both His material and His spiritual creations, without violating either human will or what we sometimes refer to as “laws of nature.”

Though many, perhaps most, Christians do not realize it, there are some things that God does through the agency of His people. While He may use us in ways that He has not revealed, so that we do not always see the divine providence beforehand (see Esther 4:12-14), there are ways in which He uses us that He has revealed.

In one respect, “Christ has no hands but our hands” (from “The World’s Bible,” by Annie J. Flint), in that He has given us certain responsibilities and obligations so that He can accomplish certain things through us. In doing so, He allows us to play a part in His providential workings. Awareness of this is a great encouragement.

Providence and Nature

Nature came into existence by the will of God. Philosopher Herbert Spenser (1820-1903) proposed five "manifestations of the unknowable"—time, force, action, space and matter. Interestingly, in the first verse of the Bible, Moses explains the origin of the universe thus:

In the beginning 1 God 2 created 3 the heavens 4 and the earth. 5

1Time

2Force

3Action

4Space

5Matter

Moses mentions all five of Spenser’s “manifestations.”

Nature was organized by the will of God. Initially, “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” God gave it both light and form. He filled the earth with plants and filled earth, sea and sky with living creatures. He put the sun, moon and stars in space, and set them in motion (Gen. 1:2-19).

Nature is balanced by the will of God. Consider the sequence in which the several kingdoms of nature were created. The mineral kingdom [all the elements—solid, liquid and gas] was first. The vegetable kingdom [plant life] was second. And the animal kingdom was third. This is just the sequence in which they allegedly evolved. Consider, also, the food chain. Water enters soil; the minerals and nutrients in the soil are broken down into a soil solution; plants absorb the solution of water, minerals and nutrients; animals obtain the minerals and nutrients by eating the plants. In this manner, God provides for the growth and development of His physical creatures (Gen. 1:30; Matt. 6:26; Psa. 104:21).

Nature is regulated by the will of God—the seasons (Gen. 1:14; 8:22; Acts 14:17), the sun and the rain (Job 28:23-27; Zech. 10:1; Matt. 5:45) and the stars (Job 38:31, 32). Even the lowly sparrows are not overlooked by God (Matt. 10:29; Luke 12:6).

Man’s ingenuity testifies to God’s control of nature. Man is able to employ the “laws of nature.” For example, airplanes are able to fly, not by violating the law of gravity but by utilizing the principles of aerodynamics, which man learned from a study of nature. If man can harness God’s laws, the Great Lawgiver surely can do so in providing for His creatures! This is general providence.

Man, the crown of God’s creation, exists on two planes—material and immaterial, physical and spiritual. As a physical being, man is subject to all physical laws. But as a spiritual being, he is also subject to spiritual laws. Of all physical creatures, man alone has free will. This simply means that he chooses his actions. Unlike the lower creatures, he has very few instincts. As a result, man alone has the capacity to obey or disobey God. Adam, for example, was free to eat from any of the trees of the garden but forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9-17). Thus, freedom to act is not license to act. &