As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. (Genesis 8:22 - NIV)
God’s laws, which last forever and cannot be broken, are not like man’s laws. God uses the natural laws, e.g. of sowing and reaping, to point to the spiritual laws. In looking at generosity, the bible tells us that, “whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” In other words, how you sow will determine what you reap.
In order for seed to multiply and grow there are conditions that must first be met. It is the same for us, if we are to develop and grow:
- Seed needs to be planted deeply in good soil
In the same way, we need to be planted in a good local Church if we are to be fruitful and grow as a Christian. If the soil (Church) is barren, you will not grow, indeed, you may die (spiritually). And we need to be planted deep. Get involved in all that is going on in Church, don’t stay at the edge/ periphery.
- Seed must be watered
You need the life-giving water of the Word, so take notes and go back over the sermons. And make sure you put personal time aside for private study of the bible. Without water, seed won’t grow.
- Seed needs oxygen in order to grow
You need the breath, inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit. We need the presence of God in our lives, for the Holy Spirit to come down and meet with us as we worship God. Yesterday’s oxygen will not sustain you today. Attending Church on a Sunday will not keep you the rest of the week. You need to breathe in oxygen moment by moment, to be constantly refreshed by the Holy Spirit.
- Seed needs to be at a certain temperature to grow
There will be times when we are cold and see little growth, and times when we are hot and see much growth. Appreciate the season you are in in life, whatever stage you are at.
- Seed needs to be exposed to the light to grow
Likewise, we need to pray to God and ask him to illuminate what he wants us to do, to unlock what is lacking in our lives and ask him for his guidance. Help us God to see more clearly!
- Seed needs time to grow
We don’t always like to hear that, but as you can see from our Scripture at the top of the page; between seed and harvest there is time. The first step is to sow seed. A lot of people struggle right there, having a tendency to hoard / keep things for themselves. But we must give generously by sowing much seed; and after that, we must be prepared to wait. We need to be patient, just like the farmer is once he has sown his seed. We need to wait patiently for God to make it grow in his time.
Remember, God meets the needs of the generous; so keep the faith and be patient, and God will fulfil his promises.
God bless you.
Douglas