"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9
Today, a post I made over 10 months ago connected with a reader. I had no way of knowing that she would need to hear my words so many months later, I simply wrote about what was going on in my life at the time. I am fortunate that she wrote to tell me how my post helped her get through a rough time, because it reminded me that our job as Christians is to plant seeds.
When we focus on the growth, on seeing the end results, we are too likely to get discouraged and give up. For 18 years, I prayed for my husband's conversion. My focus on results, though, caused me to get discouraged too soon and give up because I wasn't seeing the progress. Shortly after giving up each time, God would show me just how close Randy had been to converting. It wasn't until 17 years into those prayers that I was strong enough in my faith to realize that what God was trying to show me was that I was never closer to victory than when I most felt like giving up. That next year, joining my prayers with a community of other people, Randy converted. It wasn't an easy victory, and it took a very long time to come to fruition, but those prayers of my youth were the seeds and the fertilizer that built the root system that allowed the plant of Randy's faith to take hold and flourish.
The same thing has been true in so many areas of my life. From the time I was little, for instance, I wanted to own my own business. Yet every attempt that I made seemed to fail, and usually in an epic manner. Yet those early efforts and failures were themselves signs of seeds being planted and roots being formed under ground. As hard as it was to take, each failure taught me something new and helped to pave the way for a future success. Now, those years of efforts are beginning to pay off and my business is starting to shoot up and show impressive growth in an amazingly short amount of time.
The truth of the matter is that our job as Christians is not to produce results. Our job is to plant the seeds and tend the soil. The rest is for God to do. He will decide which seeds take root. He will bring the rain that causes growth. It is up to us, though, to plant the seeds and tend the soil. Keep planting, brothers and sisters. Keep praying, keep sharing, keep bearing witness. The fruits may not come in our lifetime, but we can be assured that no effort we make ever goes to waste. God uses it all to produce the harvest of His choosing, on His time.
When we focus on the growth, on seeing the end results, we are too likely to get discouraged and give up. For 18 years, I prayed for my husband's conversion. My focus on results, though, caused me to get discouraged too soon and give up because I wasn't seeing the progress. Shortly after giving up each time, God would show me just how close Randy had been to converting. It wasn't until 17 years into those prayers that I was strong enough in my faith to realize that what God was trying to show me was that I was never closer to victory than when I most felt like giving up. That next year, joining my prayers with a community of other people, Randy converted. It wasn't an easy victory, and it took a very long time to come to fruition, but those prayers of my youth were the seeds and the fertilizer that built the root system that allowed the plant of Randy's faith to take hold and flourish.
The same thing has been true in so many areas of my life. From the time I was little, for instance, I wanted to own my own business. Yet every attempt that I made seemed to fail, and usually in an epic manner. Yet those early efforts and failures were themselves signs of seeds being planted and roots being formed under ground. As hard as it was to take, each failure taught me something new and helped to pave the way for a future success. Now, those years of efforts are beginning to pay off and my business is starting to shoot up and show impressive growth in an amazingly short amount of time.
The truth of the matter is that our job as Christians is not to produce results. Our job is to plant the seeds and tend the soil. The rest is for God to do. He will decide which seeds take root. He will bring the rain that causes growth. It is up to us, though, to plant the seeds and tend the soil. Keep planting, brothers and sisters. Keep praying, keep sharing, keep bearing witness. The fruits may not come in our lifetime, but we can be assured that no effort we make ever goes to waste. God uses it all to produce the harvest of His choosing, on His time.
The term "seed" refers to anything that can be sown. I don't know about you, but when I hear the phrase 'sowing seeds' I immediately picture a farmer moving down neat rows of tilled soil and methodically planting.
ReplyDeleteSteam Shower
I think most of us do, and that's why it's such a great analogy when speaking about works you do for the sake of your faith. Christ frequently used those kinds of agricultural metaphors because they work :)
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