“Come help me in the garden a minute.”
When my dad ever said something was going to take a minute, you may as well pack a lunch. I would hear these words every year that it was time to plant and knew that it was an all-day affair. It wouldn’t be so bad if all I had to do was cast broadly out a little seed. Instead, we had to prepare the soil, make the rows, line it with black paper to keep the weeds out, fix the tomato baskets, and repair any irrigation lines. Finally, one by one the seeds were placed in the ground with high hopes of a large harvest.
Planting season is always full of hope. Regardless of what happened the year before, there is always the potential for a bountiful harvest. One thing was certain: If we didn’t plant any seeds, we were guaranteed not to see a harvest.
The harvest of transformed lives happens only when seeds of the gospel are planted. Sometimes we are so focused on the harvest of lost souls that we fail to do the necessary work to see it come to fruition. We neglect to do the hard work it takes to build relationships with the lost and plant the seeds of ongoing gospel conversations. If you are discouraged by the lack of baptisms at your church, check to see if you are planting any seeds in the hearts of the lost.
One challenge is that we are planting seeds in uncultivated soil. If you want to cultivate the lives of those far from God, it starts by building relationships and listening.
You plant the seed and water, but God transforms the heart. Your success is not based on the harvest, but on the cultivation of the soul and planting the seeds of the gospel.
Every year when the harvest rolled around, the bounty was so plentiful we had to give some away to our neighbors. When a church plants the seeds of the gospel, cultivates the soil, and God multiplies their number, a multiplying movement of church planting is the result.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2 NIV).
So, will you come help me in the garden a minute?