I’ve tried to grow a garden multiple times. I’m afraid I don’t have a green
thumb. If anything I have a black
thumb. Plants see me coming and
they just start trembling. I’m the grim reaper of horticulture!
However, I continue to try and thus I continue to fail. Even as I type this, I have begun yet
another attempt to grow something successfully.
It’s gotten so bad that even as I’m planting the seeds into
the earth, there is a voice inside my head that says, “This is useless, it’s
all going to die, it’s all for nothing.”
And so, even as I’m planting, I’m already defeated thinking this is a
fruitless pursuit.
If I’m not careful, I can carry this same attitude into my
sowing of Gospel seed. We see lots
of disinterest and even hostility towards the Gospel when we take it out. Sometimes, even those who quickly
believe turn out to be false “conversions.” If I’m not careful I can hear that same voice inside my head
as I’m casting the Gospel seed which says to me, “This is useless, no one is
going to listen, no one is going to believe, it’s all for nothing.” And so, even as we’re out sharing the
Gospel, we’re already defeated.
Our Songhai team has adopted a team theme for this year
taken from the 4th chapter of John. That theme is this:
sow with hope, reap with humility.
Jesus was talking to his disciples about an unexpected
harvest in an unexpected place.
His disciples hadn’t even considered working in Samaria and were simply
trying to pass through as quickly as possible. Yet, here we find many who believe. John is showing us faith where we’d
never expect it (to contrast the disbelief he’s shown us where we thought we’d
find it, namely Jerusalem).
If you’d asked Jesus’ disciples about sharing in Samaria
they probably would have scoffed and said, “That’s a pointless pursuit!”
Jesus is teaching them (and us) that we should never carry
this attitude into our sowing of the Gospel. And thus, we should sow in hope. We try to go out prayerfully when we share with an attitude
of expectation. We expect the
Gospel to transform lives and to make dead hearts alive!
However, the other lesson Jesus taught those disciples that
day was to reap with humility. A
harvest was literally approaching Jesus as he spoke to the disciples as a crowd
of Samarians were coming to Jesus to believe. Jesus taught them that day that they will reap a harvest
where they have not sown.
For us as well, we are in a very fruitful season of
ministry. We’re seeing things so
many of our colleagues aren’t seeing and so many of our former colleagues
longed to see. Why is that? The temptation is towards pride. The temptation is to think, “This is
because of our great faithfulness” or “This is because of our great strategy”
when the reality is this is because of our great and faithful God. We are simply reaping a harvest where
we have not labored.
And so we go out expecting God to bring about fruit but when
He does, we only boast in Him!
May we all sow in hope and reap in humility.
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