IMPERISHABLE SEED

“…Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…” (1 Peter 1:23). 

            We often hear or use the term “born again.”  Here Peter explains what he means by using that term.  He describes the “seed” that produces new birth.  When we sow seed that produces crops, that seed falls into the ground and “perishes.”  It dies.  But Peter says that our new birth is different because it is produced by a “seed” that does not die!  That seed which produces new birth in us is the word of God.  In other words, when we heard the word of God it contained the seed of eternal life and that seed was planted in our souls!

            Having been born again we begin a new life and that new life requires a new lifestyle!  Our life is a spiritual life and it is characterized by the Father’s attributes.  He has given us new birth into a new family and he has given us a new nature to go along with our new lives.  It is this new nature that allows us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.  This new life and this new nature are permanent!  They are eternal!  So our love for one another must also be permanent and eternal!  It is this new nature that allows us to improve on that love by making it sincere and earnest.  Our new nature is imperishable; it will last throughout eternity.  Therefore, the lives we are living here and now are a type of the lives we will be living in eternity.  The love and fellowship we share here in this fallen world are a shadow of the reality we will know in the new heavens and the new earth.  So our lives are presenting an example to the world!  The world watches us and we are to show them the character of the royal family of God!  The love of this family is meant to be attractive to the people in the world.  When they see Christians loving each other sincerely and earnestly they will be attracted to the Lord who makes such love possible!  But most of all, when we demonstrate God’s character through loving one another we are modeling the character of the Holy Trinity.  Our love brings glory to God the Father and to Jesus Christ!  All of this shows the great importance of learning to live in our new natures.  We need to learn to live publicly and transparently before the world which honors our Father by revealing his character to a lost world!