“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” (2 Corinthians 9:6 NIV)
The “sow”-ing Paul is referring to in this passage comes from gardening. When you plant a garden, the more seeds you sow, the more you will receive in the harvest. This year, I planted six cucumber seeds, which yielded six plants. Each plant yields, on average, ten cucumbers. My husband and I couldn’t keep up with the number of cucumbers we received from those plants. However, if I had only planted one seed, we wouldn’t have had as many cucumbers.
The truth is, I planted more than six seeds to grow six plants. In each little mound, I planted 2-4 seeds, but only one of them survived. To produce a crop, you must plant more than one seed. And you have to water and nurture what you do plant. Each day, I would check on my little seedlings. When I spotted signs of life popping up through the ground, I praised God for His blessing on my efforts.
Planting produces faith.
Comparing planting seeds to life, if we don’t sow the seed, nothing will ever grow. As we witness growth begin to take place, our faith grows with it. We realize that what started as nothing more than a conversation has become a reality we couldn’t imagine. And we have a choice of what seeds we plant. Like I chose to plant cucumbers and peppers in my physical garden, I can plant seeds of love and mercy in my relational garden.
Where you are is where you plant. The people God surrounds you with are the place to start planting. Sometimes, preparing the soil may take time for people to receive the seeds. In other words, if people don’t think they are lovable, they aren’t able to receive love. They don’t think they deserve it.
When you plant a garden, you have to prepare the soil. First, you till the land, churning the dirt over and over. Then you add fertilizer and nutrients so the seeds you plant will have everything they need to grow. And you moisten the soil, which softens and readies it to receive the seeds planted. We need to do the same thing with people.
When people hurt for whatever reason, walls go up around their hearts. Hurt after hurt, layer after layer, just like layers of soil. The more layers, the more compact the soil of our hearts become. Like tilling a garden, we must till through the layers of hurt to revitalize a broken heart. We must add fertilizer and nutrients to create life. Our prayers water the soil so they can receive the seeds of love and mercy we plant.
The more seeds we plant, the greater the harvest.
Question of the Day:
How can you sow generously today?
Further Reading: Song of Solomon 5-8 NIV, 2 Corinthians 9:1-15 NIV, Psalm 51 NIV, Proverbs 22:24-25 NIV
