Saving your own homegrown seeds, whether of vegetables or flowers, is very rewarding. It must be done with care, of course, to ensure that each strain is kept true to type. I find that the seeds harvested from my garden germinate much better than commercially produced seed.

All over the world individuals, seed saver clubs and farmers nurture and multiply seed. The reasons for this are many and varied. For some it is an absolute necessity. For others, it is to keep treasured heirloom varieties from being lost forever. Fullness of flavor and reliability is another good reason to retain these tried-and-true types.

It is a God-given blessing for us to be able to save our own seed. We find this “God-given right” in the first book of the Bible. “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth’; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:11-12).

I was therefore very disturbed to discover that the ability to save our own seed may be taken from us by stealth. I was shocked and dismayed. How could this be? Read on. Big multinational seed producers have developed, perfected and patented a technology called zero reseeding (opponents call them terminator or suicide seeds). This technology prevents the seed they sell from reproducing fertile seed. In other words, this seed has been deliberately corrupted. It is done to prevent the new genetically modified plants, such as wheat and rice, from being utilized by others. Now, every seed-bearing plant or tree can be made to produce infertile seed.

It’s just too awful to think what would happen if these big seed producers were to have a crop failure and be unable to supply their customers with seed.

Unfortunately, pollen from these crops can contaminate the seed of unsuspecting farmers and growers nearby. In turn, their crops become less fertile and eventually sterile. As this contamination spreads, more and more growers will have to purchase their seed from these biotech seed producers. But farmers in third world countries are often too poor to buy seed. They save and breed their own seed, which is more suitable for the often-marginal land they farm. Also, it is estimated that these farmers feed up to 1.4 billion people.

It’s just too awful to think what would happen if these big seed producers were to have a crop failure and be unable to supply their customers with seed. (Further information about terminator seeds can be found at www.etcgroup.org.) Perhaps this new technology might contribute to some of the famines prophesied by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24. Only time will tell.

Spiritual seeds

The seed savers I know are generous people who enthusiastically share their seed with others. For Christians, God puts it this way: “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God” (2 Corinthians 9:10-11).

God is sowing, through His Church, the gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God to all who will listen and understand.

Regarding these verses, Barnes’ Commentary says: “The allusion is to the act of sowing seed. The idea is, that when a man scatters seed in his field God provides him with the means of sowing again. He not only gives him a harvest to supply his needs, but he blesses him also in giving him the ability to sow again. Such was the benevolent wish of Paul. He desired not only that God would supply their returning needs, but he desired also that he would give them the ability to do good again; that he would furnish them the means of future benevolence.”

The idea of the seed savers is to multiply and share good seed. Jesus commissioned His disciples to likewise go and share the gospel of the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:2). In Matthew 13:11, Jesus tells us plainly that only His disciples will understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. The implication is that, to be a disciple, we need to come to an understanding of this mystery.

Seeds of the gospel of the Kingdom

In Matthew 13:19 Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” The seed spoken of here is the gospel of the Kingdom of God. But notice what it says—the seeds can be taken from us. How? By failing to understand what God’s Kingdom is all about. In verse 23, Jesus explains that understanding the Kingdom is necessary before we can bear fruit. “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

God is sowing, through His Church, the gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God to all who will listen and understand. Understanding what this kingdom is all about is absolutely necessary for us. Peter, writing to believers, points out that we must be born again, “not of corruptible seed but incorruptible” (1 Peter 1:23) if we are to be in God’s Kingdom. The corrupted seed that comes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil can never bring life, but the incorruptible seed of God’s Kingdom will bring life, when it is understood and acted upon.

It is a God-given blessing for us to be able to save our own seed.

Another aim of seed savers is to multiply seed that is true to type. God too, desires a crop of true to type children. They are to have all the characteristics of the seed of the tree of life, Jesus Christ. “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man” (1 Corinthians 15:49).

Being born again not of corruptible “seed” but of incorruptible “seed” is embodied in the message of the Kingdom of God. In the gospel of the Kingdom lies the meaning of salvation and our destiny. It’s the good news brought to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).