Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: Genesis 1-2
     New Testament Reading: Luke 8

“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.” (Luke 8: 5-8)

On occasion, I’ve heard Christians say, “Well at least we sowed seeds”. Often it is used when they did some service project and saw little to no results. We did our job, now it is up to God is their attitude. But the reality is often it is just an excuse for doing poor planning and little to no follow-up.

My grandparents as well as most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mother’s side were farmers. Growing up in the Midwest, I spent a lot of time on their farms and listened to many conversations as the farmers talked at family outings. Farmers are indeed some of the hardest-working people around.

No farmer ever sowed seed in their field and said, “Well that’s done, I’ll be back in the fall and hopefully a crop has grown.” Instead, they work all year long cultivating the soil, adding fertilizer, removing rocks, clearing out the underbrush, spraying for weeds, irrigating the crop, and the list goes on and on for the work they need to do to have a fruitful crop come harvest time.

In this passage, Jesus is explaining the result of a spiritual crop depends on the condition of the heart. Some people’s heart is like hard ground, others like rocky ground, some like ground full of thorns and weeds, and finally some are like fertile soil.

Yes, God is the only one that can bring forth growth. But just like those cornfields in the Mid-West, God causes the crop to grow, and when the work has been done to prepare the soil, the crop is plentiful. If not, the crop withers and dies.

The Apostle Paul told the church at Corinth, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth(1 Corinthians 3:6-7). It wasn’t enough for Paul to sow the seeds of the gospel, Apollos needed to come along after him and water what had been sown.

Yes, we are to sow the seeds of the Word of God, but that is not to be the end of ministry, it’s just the beginning. We need to evangelize, nurture, disciple, teach, and encourage one another. Then God will provide fruitful, meaningful, and abundant growth.