I have decided that I rather like Jesus’ parables comparing God’s work with farming, the ones where the Gospel is seeds and the harvest is souls being saved. I have decided this because that is exactly what it feels like working in a factory. For over a year now, I have been that farmer sowing the seeds in the different soils.
A lot of these people show absolutely no interest in the things of God, and others show interest in my beliefs but are not anywhere near the place of commitment. Nevertheless, I have been encouraged by their responses, even if they don’t yet have the one I really wish they would. You see, even though these soils have not proven to be the good soil Jesus talked about I have discovered that it does not really matter. The sower has many many seeds; he can afford to sow his seeds in soils that will bear no fruit. Maybe, just maybe those soils, even though they look barren, will prove to be more fertile than the sower could possibly dream.
The sower has all the seeds he could wish for, but each one he plants is precious. And the sower cares for all seeds he plants. And by care, I mean that he tends the soil. If the soil is hard packed dirt, he tills it. If the soil is full of thorns, he clears the land. And if the soil is rocky, well then he carefully removes each stone. Until finally, that soil resembles the neat straight furrows of a farm.
It is this caring that often trips up Christians. Sowing the seed is pretty easy, giving it the care it needs is harder. Sometimes people’s thorns will thick from previous abuse; sometimes their stones will be buried deep within the soil. And it takes work to remove these things. You might spend your entire relationship carefully working on one stone, or rooting up one thistle. That’s okay. Because I am here to tell you something amazing happens.
The past few weeks, there seems to be more of an interest about my faith. Figures, right? I am leaving in a couple of weeks and now is when they begin to show an interest. But one day when I was having one of these discussions, the little lady across the assembly from me chimes in with her two cents. And let me tell you, these two cents were the best since the widow’s mite. So after a year of patiently working on a particular stone, my sister comes along sits down in the dirt and begins to help dislodge the rocks.
The fields are white with the harvest, folks. This is because the Gospel has been planted in the lives of people before we even arrive on the scene. It is through their sweat and toil that the soil has become fertile. We come and harvest those that they couldn’t, and begin the process with new fields. You’ve go some farmin’ to do; it doesn’t matter who you are. I have one theology degree under my belt with more on the way. The other lady had no training excepting her life of faith. Somehow, I am not afraid to leave the fields in her care.
I love that thought: “The sower has many many seeds; he can afford to sow his seeds in soils that will bear no fruit.”
Perhaps if we focused on the abundance of seeds that we have to sow instead of the lack of emotional energy we have to spend on someone, we might not be so impatient with the process.
Excellent post, my friend!
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