Recently, in band meeting, one of us shared that at the start of a recent sermon, for which she was a little nervous to give to a new congregation, after reading the Gospel lesson, she began her sermon with a little joke that she didn’t have to preach because Jesus had already said it. After a pause, she went on with her prepared sermon and, as she related to us in band, received very positive feedback from her congregation. A little while later, another band member shared that she had also preached that same Sunday. In a similar, but different way, she ended her sermon with the proclamation that the gifts of God weren’t something we needed to achieve by our own strength and strategies – Jesus already has them and has already given them to us. We just need to cherish and care for them.
Both stories from the real lives of two of our band members reminded me of the parable of the seed — no, not the sower who scatters seed indiscriminately along the path, by the rocks and on good soil — but the parable of the seed in Mark 4:26-29. The Message tells it this way;
“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 the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Our life as Christians is as real and actualized as the orchards of fruit, flowers and vegetable patches that grow – whether they are beginning to yield its harvest now in the northern hemisphere or if lying fallow at the moment in the southern regions of our planet.
And, as our two band members shared, we don’t have to do anything to get the seed to grow. God does it. It isn’t ours to orchestrate or make happen. Our job is to tend to the garden and crop before us. Watering it, nurturing the plant as the shoot begins to sprout, weeding out the invading plants that want to choke its growth. But so often, we work hard chasing after goals and dreams that may not be ones God has placed in our garden. Sometimes, as in our band, we don’t all have a proper garden plot, but grow our veg, herbs, and flowers in containers. Being part of an Inspire Band can help clarify what form our patch of earth takes, and the fruit God has given us to harvest. Discerning what is and what is not part of my gifting and calling as a Christian is helped by my sisters in band. I am glad they are helping keep an eye with me on my gardening as I get to help look and tend on theirs. Between us all, as the blossoms ripen and bear fruit, we will yield an abundant harvest — and all because God has provided it already.
Tammie is an Inspire Missioner in the USA
I planted the church, and Apollos came and cared for it, but it was God who caused it to grow. This means the one who plants is not anybody special, nor the one who waters, for God is the one who brings the supernatural growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 TPT
