LightGrams
September 12, 2024
Volume 28, Number 26
If you happen to be in the market for plums, check out the Oppie Plaas Boerdery Farm in South Africa. This is where the world’s record for biggest plum was recently set when co-owners Dean and Deon Barnard found a plum that weighed 16.3 ounces. That broke the previous record by 3.8 ounces, a plum grown in Japan in 2021. That’s a considerable plum!
The Barnard’s weren’t trying to produce a world record plum, they said. “The record plum came off a commercial tree with about 150 plums on it. I didn’t do any special preparations to get it this big,” Dean said in the UPI story of September 11. He spoke of their usual habit of soil testing and the unique climate of that area. But the larger-than-usual plum was unexpected.
The story is reminiscent of the time when spies were sent into Canaan as Israel prepared to enter their Promised Land. In Numbers 13:23 we read this: “Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.”
When I go to the grocery store to purchase grapes, I typically buy at least a cluster of them, but I have never had to ask for assistance to carry that one cluster to my car. No doubt, such a cluster of grapes as found in Canaan would set records today. It shows that God had special blessings in mind for His people when they would eventually take possession of their new home,
Let’s bring this amazing plum a little closer home by considering Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed, found in Matthew 13:32,33: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
“How does that apply to us?”, someone might ask. In Luke’s account of the parable, Jesus gives this important detail: “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God,” (Luke 8:11). That means that amazing things will “grow” in us when we take the time to plant God’s word in our hearts. Some may doubt that: “It’s just a book of ancient words!” The words are ancient, but they are far from ordinary.
Hebrews 4:12 affirms that latter claim: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Like planting a seed in fertile soil, planting the powerful word of God in an honest and receptive heart will bring forth unexpected results. World records? Maybe not, but the fruit will be amazing, nonetheless.
How about a sample of this amazing fruit? Galatian 5:22,23 provides that: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” That’s the kind of fruit this world needs! Let’s get busy planting!
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2024, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “Tim@GraceMine.org” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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