a sower went out to sow

spread those seeds and trust God for the growth

My elderly neighbor was so proud of being an atheist; she mentioned it nearly every time we spoke. And often I would tell her I would pray for her. When she died several years ago, I felt as though I had failed her, that I should have tried harder to get her saved. Then God gently reminded me that she had over 90 years to turn to Him, to believe in His salvation, but she had made her choice to reject Him.

A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:3-8)

For those of us who have come to know and believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He was crucified and rose from the dead, we are the called out ones—the ones who continue to carry out His work here on earth.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9)

We are called to plant those seeds and water them, but their growth and development are in the hands of God.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (I Corinthians 3:6-7)

zucchini flowers

Last year I ripped everything green out of my garden after a neighbor allowed her dog to make his deposits there. The dog has since died and the neighbor has moved away, so this year I planted new seeds. The zucchini is thriving, the wildflowers are growing rapidly, but the peas did not survive the heat and bright afternoon sun of the past couple of weeks. There are also things growing this year that I hadn’t planted. The sunflowers and marigolds that grew last year have come back. Their seeds are resilient, and the marigolds are in bloom and the sunflowers are already as high as my shoulder. Even after my garden was damaged last year, those seeds still sprang up to bring new beauty and hope.

marigold

And I’ve come to wonder, what if some of the seeds we have sown have been blown by the wind to places we never imagined they would sprout. Jesus didn’t mention this in His parable, but I have seen flowers I’d planted in my garden sprouting up in front of a neighbor’s home.

Once at a church gathering a woman came up to me and told me she was a Christian because of me. I had no idea who she was. She said that several years earlier she and a coworker had come into the restaurant where I was waitressing. Her coworker and I began talking about church, and she said that because I was so excited about my church, she decided to check it out. It was there that she met and believed the Lord and received His salvation.

That was a seed that had fallen and took root while I was completely unaware. But God saw the seed and nurtured it and grew it and produced the beautiful fruit of salvation. I wonder if we will encounter others in heaven who will tell us the same story as that woman—that our words planted a seed that led them to a glorious eternity with the One who loves them.

So, just like the new life in my little garden, let us continue to sow the seeds of God’s love and salvation. While we don’t know which seeds will thrive and which will be lost, we can sow them with the knowledge that God will bring growth to those who are reaching up to Him. Let us share the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ and trust God to grow and nurture the seeds which are received, and rejoice in the fruit that began in darkness and now reaches for His marvelous light.

Salvation is Your Name