not my job

More parables today. I don't feel quite as dumb with this one as with yesterday's. This one is about how the kingdom of God is like a small seed that is planted and then grows bigger than you could imagine it to be. And all on its own too.

The neat thing about this parable is how our role in 'growing' the kingdom of God is relatively small. Our job is to scatter the seed. God takes care of the growing bit. We can't force anyone to grow in their relationship with God. We can't force the world to be a better place. But we certainly can plant the seeds that God can then make grow. We can tell people about Christ and we can pray for them. We can work towards social justice and economic stewardship. God will take care of the growing.

It's sometimes frustrating when the things we do as Christians don't seem to make a difference. Like praying for someone who doesn't know God. I know people who have prayed for their loved ones for years and years and never see any change. How do we deal with that? Why won't that seed grow?

It's hard to wait on God's timing sometimes. What am I saying, sometimes? It's hard to wait all the time. At least it is, for me. As seed-sowers, you can start to feel really helpless. Like it doesn't matter what you do, nothing is gonna change.

But God is faithful. And he's trustworthy. And he knows what he's doing. Thank God for that! Could you imagine if we were in charge of making people grow? What a mess that would be. I don't think we'd know where to start. And even if we did, we probably wouldn't be very wise about it.

I'm glad making people grow is not my job. I'm glad I only have to be a seed-sower. I just pray that I can be a good and faithful seed sower so that God can get on with his part of the arrangement!