Scattering seeds

I believe that one of the toughest parts about being a Christian is really having a desire to spread the gospel, doing something about it, and never really seeing the results or knowing if you made it impact.

No matter what great amount of faith you have in God it's still hard sometimes because we care about the people that we witness to and we want to see them come to Christ.

One of the times I struggled with this the most was two summers ago when I was in China. We had an entire basketball team, and 3 translators packed into a small hotel room in Kunming, China. It was the last night of the trip and we were saying goodbye to our translators and praying over them. We actually said words of affirmation to all of them as well. We loved all our translators to death. They were all believers except for one...Nick. Nick was really growing in his faith during our two week trip. I think we all believed that Nick was going to come to Christ that night. Everyone was crying, praying, and we felt like we were all going to witness it...Long story short, that wasn't the night he gave his life to Christ. He just wasn't ready yet. This made leaving the next day extra hard because I wanted to see Nick again someday and didn't know if I ever would. I remember telling him that I was going to see him someday in heaven when we hugged and said goodbye.

About a month later I get a voice recording text from Nick and he told me that he was now a Christian and was certain that he was going to see me again someday. I remember listening to that message over and over again with a happy heart and tears in my eyes...

You see, in that moment, I felt like we all had this thought in our hearts that we were going to be the reason that Nick came to Christ...But when it comes down to it, people aren't going to understand until they are fully ready themselves.

That is the first major point that I want to make as I write this post this morning.

Do not be discouraged when you don't see results from your encouragement. Jesus tells the parable of the four soils in Mark chapter 4. This parable should encourage spiritual "farmers"- those who teach, preach, and lead others. Farmers will always sow good seed but sometimes not all of it grows the way that they would want it to. Don't be discouraged because sometimes those who do not understand God's truth are simply not ready for it.

God reveals truth to people who will act on it, who will make it visible in their lives. When you talk with people about God, be aware that they will not understand if they are not yet ready. Be patient, taking every chance to tell them more of the truth about God and praying that the Holy Spirit will open their minds and hearts to receive the truth and act upon it.

Productivity is always in God's hand's. We sow the seeds but we are not the ones who make the seeds grow. I think to have that expectation that we can make the seeds sprout on our own is a little extreme...

Which brings be to my second major point of this post.

The final product isn't up to us.

"This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain - first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts a sickle to it, because the harvest has come." (Mark 4:26-29)

We are in charge of scattering the seeds all over the place. But whether it is night or day, the seed will sprout and grow and we don't know how...That is what the kingdom of God is like. We scatter the seeds but we can't control whether or not someone comes to Christ. That is all the magnificent work of the Holy Spirit. 

God promises that they harvest will be magnificent-the best fruit ever grown. Your witness may be weak and your efforts may seem to influence to few, but the Word of God is a powerful growth agent. 

Keep your eyes on the great harvest to come and don't let bad soil or weeds discourage you from faithful service and witness. 

No matter how badly we want to see people come to Christ because of the words that we say, we need to remember what Jesus says. It's never up to us. There will be an unimaginable harvest, we just have to help scatter the seeds. 

In a way, this should make things easier for you. Do you think farmers lives would be easier if they weren't the ones who had to harvest all their crops? 100%! Think about all the time they would save and all of the less worry that they would have. 

Keep on scattering seeds and there will be a harvest. I promise and so does Jesus.