The comparison of a seed coming to life, and a soul going through the process of salvation, is very close. A seed when it is buried in the ground, dies, and then sprouts to new life. The flower or the leafage is evidence of the new life. And the evidence of one who has gone through the salvation process, is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). This is evidence of new life in Jesus Christ. In our text the Apostle Paul makes a comparison of the dramatic change that Jesus went through, in His death burial and resurrection, to what the change should be for us in the salvation process. In baptism we died, we were buried, and then we were raised up out of the water to (symbolically) show the process of putting to death the old sinful life, and entering a new life in Jesus Christ. But it doesn't stop there. Every gardener knows, that plants need cultivation and care. And that relates to the responsibility we have as Christians, to cultivate our lives, with the spiritual tools of the Word of God, prayer, and Christian fellowship. New life is a wonderful gift, one that must be valued and cared for, with all the resources from the Lord, and all effort and discipline on our part. GP Photo Copied.