{"id":45603,"date":"2008-04-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/eating-seed\/"},"modified":"2008-04-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-28T00:00:00","slug":"eating-seed","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/eating-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating the Seed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When Beth Moore and her husband, Keith, spent time in war-torn Angola to draw attention to tens of thousands of malnourished people, they were changed forever. &quot;I learned something in one of the rural villages that will mark my teaching and response to the Word of God,&quot; Beth says. &quot;As we stood there, trying to absorb the sights and smells of living death, our new friend, Isak Pretorius, said, &#39;One of the most frustrating things is that in villages where they received seed, they often eat the seed rather than planting it and bringing forth the harvest.&#39; I couldn&#39;t get the statement out of my mind and suddenly had an answer to the question I most often ask God: Why do some people see the results of the Word and others don&#39;t?&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Beth continues: &quot;Why have many of us read books on forgiving people, known the teachings were true and right, cried over them, marked them up with highlighters, yet remain in our bitterness? Because we ate the seed instead of sowing it.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3454,3621,3648,3856,3867,3903,3981,4004,4010,4088,4124,4128,4173,4180,4181,4191,4395,4460,4592,4615,4616,4633,4777,4792,4805,4836,4909,4931,4937,4944,5178,5191,5228,5237,5238],"tax_ctp_topics":[388],"class_list":["post-45603","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-attitude","tax_ctp_tags-circumstances","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-emotions","tax_ctp_tags-enemy","tax_ctp_tags-evil","tax_ctp_tags-feelings","tax_ctp_tags-forbearance","tax_ctp_tags-forgiveness","tax_ctp_tags-grace","tax_ctp_tags-hatred","tax_ctp_tags-health","tax_ctp_tags-human","tax_ctp_tags-human-limitations","tax_ctp_tags-human-nature","tax_ctp_tags-humiliation","tax_ctp_tags-love","tax_ctp_tags-mercy","tax_ctp_tags-pardon","tax_ctp_tags-peace","tax_ctp_tags-peacemakers","tax_ctp_tags-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-reconciliation","tax_ctp_tags-relationship","tax_ctp_tags-repentance","tax_ctp_tags-revenge","tax_ctp_tags-self-centeredness","tax_ctp_tags-self-sacrifice","tax_ctp_tags-selfishness","tax_ctp_tags-september-11-2001","tax_ctp_tags-tragedy","tax_ctp_tags-trial","tax_ctp_tags-vengeance","tax_ctp_tags-vindictiveness","tax_ctp_tags-violence"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - 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