Have you ever looked at a single grain of wheat? There is not very much to see! Just a small kernel a few millimeters in diameter. On its own it is of very little use, however if that seed is planted in the right soil and receives some care and attention, from that single seed on average 110 more seeds will be produced. Now even 110 seeds of wheat is barely a handful, but if each one of those seeds is planted then together they could produce around 12,000 seeds. That’s a fair amount, but again if you were to give it a third go, that lot could produce nearly one and a half million seeds!
Jesus was aware that when he walked the earth, although he could do a lot of good, by himself he could only reach a limited amount of people. The lives that he changed through his teachings and the signs and wonders that accompanied them would have been limited to a few hundred, maybe a couple of thousand at most if his story had remained that of a single person.
But History shows us that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has gone on to impact the lives of Billions of people! He has shaped laws, governments and whole nations and has also brought hope and comfort to countless individuals.
This has happened because Jesus had a mission that was greater than his individual life. He knew that by laying his life down, by going to the cross and by giving his life for us all, anyone who believed in him could receive his Spirit and by doing so they would have the power to live for God, sharing God’s life and love with others.
It is in this way that Christianity has spread down through the ages, multiplying exponentially as it crossed borders and cultures and generations.
It has spread because innumerable individuals chose not to live just for themselves, they decided to give their time and energy and in some cases their very lives in the pursuit of God’s kingdom, of seeing his life and love spread to those around them.
With all of the challenges facing our current generation it would be easy to become overwhelmed if we relied only on our individual abilities, however we can find hope in the knowledge that God so loved us that He gave his only Son so that we would not have to live and die alone, but that through faith in him, through laying down our lives and following Him, we could share in his life and love and power, and together we could see God’s love impact the world around us.