Hundred-Fold Fruitage
by Ray Prinzing

"These are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the Word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred."          (Mark 4:20)

Usually, the emphasis is on the quality of that which is brought forth in our lives, and how "the fires shall try every man's work of what sort it is."  (1 Corinthians 3:13).  But since it is established that the Seed is the Word of God, and every seed bears after its own kind, we are assured of the quality of the life and fruit to be brought forth - HIS LIFE.

To have quantity before quality is tragic, but to have top-most quality, and then to add quantity, is to expand the glory and praise.  Christendom long ago sacrificed quality for quantity, emphasizing its multiplicity of works and programs, ending up with a lot of worthless material.  Because of this dire condition, we seldom gave thought to quantity, since the main issue became one of the first restoring the right quality.  But the more we see that the Standard is Christ, "a perfect man, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,"  (Ephesians 4:13), this quality being assured, we now ponder the quantity desired.

"Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."  (John 15:8).  The grace of God working in us, bringing us into His perfect quality, then will expand in us that quantity according to our God-given capacity, bringing us to our fullest potential in Christ.  As the Spirit penetrates to inmost core, purging every part of our being, until there is the pure essence of His nature along within us, then there is a need to expand that quality - some bring forth thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred.  When grain is harvested, if the growing season went well and all is now mature, every kernel is of the same kind and quality as the seed that was sown.  But some ground is only able to produce thirty bushels per acre, other areas able to produce much more, even to an hundred.  The yieldedness to the plow, to the rain, to the sun, all combines to bring forth an abundant harvest.