Dirtballs for Jesus

by Bryan Hupperts


I saw the funniest thing meditating on scripture today. Remember the parable of the sower? Some seed fell on good soil, some on rocky soil, etc? The funny thing was that all the seed fell on dirt - which is a picture of us! The life was only in the seed, not in the dirt.

God formed Adam from the dust of the earth. If you could straight-faced ever call anyone a dirtball, Adam would be it. I used to wonder why the Lord didn't name him Clay! :-) He was lifeless until the Father kissed him and breathed life into him. In the same way we are only unanimated dirt till the seed of the word of God comes and makes us alive inside. It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing…unless you're a fan of mud pies.

The seed has life but can grown or not grow depending on the condition, and vigilant maintenance, of the soil. We're only the dirt. God has to provide the life for anything to grow. It's funny that the seed is always good but the condition of the soil determines how, and if, the seed will germinate and ultimately bare fruit.

God comes to us hungry for fruit. If you planted an apple tree, wouldn't it be reasonable to eventually want to feast on the apples, the fruition of your labors? We're the garden of the Lord. He plants His seed (the living Word of God) within us with the purpose of growing the image of Christ in us, all the while conforming us to that image. He is hungry for the fruit of the Spirit to germinate, bud, blossom, and finally mature to sweetness.

When the Lord comes to commune with you, does He walk away hungry or satisfied? We are invited to taste and see that the Lord is good. What does He taste in your spirit? Are you sweet oranges and mangos to His taste buds, or sour, bitter lemons? Does He taste within you the sweet manna of heaven or barren, wormy, inedible dirt?

When God sows His eternal word into our hearts, He does it with an eventual harvest in mind. He sows His word to reap an eternal harvest from among men. What kind of crop is He getting in you? As I stated earlier, the seed is good. How it grows all depends on the condition of the soil.

I think it wonderful that we're the dirt. No one has bragging rights in the kingdom and the more you walk with God, the more obvious that becomes. I get a giggle when I think that He knew me before I was born and, in spite of His foreknowledge of my sin, warts, and failures, still chose me! God wants to spend forever with a guy like me! He saw a lonely little barren dirtball and decided to invest His life in me.

Is it any wonder that the Cross was planted into the dirt of the earth and the precious blood of the Lamb flowed down for our healing and forgiveness?

God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul; when He breathes into us, we become sons of the living God. My honest opinion on why the Lord chose the dust of the earth from which to form us is because it is the one thing lower than a serpents belly. God commanded the serpent of old to crawl in the dust, the stuff that God animated with life and exalted to his very throne! We dirtballs, animated with the life of God, shall rule and reign with Almighty God forever! We were made of the one thing lower than the devil and I sense he resents that.

Good.

We all start as dirt in the kingdom. If you've fallen by the wayside, ask the Holy Spirit to "plow up the fallow ground" within you that there might be fruit in the kingdom. Fallow ground is land that was once fruitful but has lain dormant and untilled and needs a good plowing before it can receive seed to again produce fruit. As God begins to reveal hard, rocky places (strongholds) where you are not producing the fruit of the Spirit, yield to Him and ask Him to deliver you and "heal your land" until you can shine forth the image of the Son of God in your soul.

God would have us fruitful. When a beautiful tree whose branches are straining to hold the sweet fruit it has grown is before you, who notices the dirt? You only see the fruit and that is where God is taking you if you will only walk with Him.

Be fruitful and multiply,
Bryan Hupperts

© 1998 "Sheep Trax" - April 23, 1998 - Reprinted by Permission