26 He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
My thoughts -
I've been thinking a lot lately about evangelism and discipleship. Both are important. I would argue both are essential. I feel a stronger pull towards discipleship most of the time. I often wonder what good we do when we focus on bringing people to Christ but then don't allow them to grow and mature in their relationship with God. But then, what good does it do to focus on deeper relationships with God when we're not sharing the Gospel with others?
And then we get so bogged down in the process of both and our inevitable "failures" and "successes" that we forget that we can't make the seeds grow. We don't even really understand the process. Whether you're trying to cultivate more mature plants (discipleship) or just getting seed in the ground and hoping something will grow (evangelism) there's a limit to what you can do.
We often call environmental tragedies "Acts of God". Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, mudslide, etc. We didn't do it. We can't control it. It was an Act of God. I think God gets a bad rap on that. Why don't we give God credit for the good that is beyond our ability to comprehend, too?
The growth of a seed is an Act of God. We need to get them in the ground and be prepared to cultivate, but growth is beyond our control. It is an Act of God.
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