SOWING SEEDS FOR THE HARVEST

This post is part of the Christian Writers blog chain. Our theme for October is “harvest.” Please see the links to the right and read what my friends have to say about harvest.

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The Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15) is a powerful story, illustrating the way the Gospel is received. 

When the Gospel is preached, some people hear it but then Satan takes it away before it can be believed. When others hear the Gospel, they receive it but do not work at it to ensure that the seed takes root. So the tender faith does not withstand the tests of life. But the Gospel received by people who hear it, retain it, nurture it and grow their relationship with Jesus, produces a crop. A bounty. A harvest.

What about Jesus’ command that we be workers for his spiritual harvest? Matthew 9:37:

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Is there a connection between these two passages for our own lives?

We all want to be the good soil of Jesus’ parable. We also want to be the workers in God’s harvest. Sometimes we forget that we need to be workers in our own spiritual harvest.

God has sown the seed and we have received the good news. Still, we must continue to water our faith with the living water of Christ. We must allow Him to pull our weeds and burn our thorns. We must help Him place sparkling strips of divine foil in our fields to keep away the pests that could destroy our faith.

We must persevere in order to produce an abundant harvest in our own lives for Him.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for sowing your seeds of faith in my life. Please make good soil for those who don’t yet know you. Help me water their soil and nurture them. Help me also tend my own faith so that your harvest is abundant. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Who do you know that needs you to pray for them to be part of God’s harvest? How do you need to cultivate your own soil?