Doing HIS Part!
This past weekend, one of my morning devotionals took me into Jesus’ parable of the growing seed on the Gospel of Mark:
“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark 44:26-29 esv
The simplicity of this parable is profound.
Our job is to scatter the seed upon the earth (to live out and share the kingdom in the world) and allow the unseen forces and design to do the rest (God’s Spirit and purpose). When the fruit has ripened (when the time has cone), we are to harvest it (receive it in so its usefulness for the kingdom can also be experienced). In other words, we spread the news about the kingdom, but the rest automatically grows as God does his part.
For 2000 years and counting, we continue to think we can somehow affect and manipulate the process beyond living out and speaking about the kingdom. Yet if we look back, we can see that despite our best efforts to screw it up, the Author of Life, the Universe, and Everything keeps his kingdom growing.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8 esv
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