You're a sower, not the grower

I woke up this morning with a thought in my mind that I couldn't shake. And it just keep going and growing in my head. I'm going to try to express my thoughts here.

I woke up thinking about seeds and planting, so naturally my mind went to the parable of the sower. Matthew 13:1-9 says "The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Why did I wake up thinking about seeds and sowing? I am quite certain it has to do with the letter I wrote coming out our recent revival where I likened myself to a seed. But what I saw this morning was this: yes, each time I knock a door or give a Bible study there is a seed that is being sown. But, I am only the sower. I am not the grower. 

Think about it for a moment. Even in the passage of scripture quoted above, the person went out and sowed seed. It says some fell in four different locations: by the wayside where the fowls came to devour quickly, on stony places where the sun scorched them, among the thorns where the thorns sprung up and choked it out and upon the good ground where the harvest came from. Did it say here that the sower placed the seed? No, it says it was sown, which could be worded as scattered. When you are "sowing seed", you do not control where that seed is going to fall. That is not your job. Your job is to sow the seed.

The types of soil that seed lands on is out of your hands. You can plant what you think is the best sown crop ever, but you can't see what is happening just under the surface. You cannot see if the dirt your seed has landed on is just that, a clump of dirt laying atop a rocky surface.Your seed sprouts quickly and is beautiful to behold and in an instant is is gone. Burned and withered away from a lack of water and nutrition because the roots were never formed. You cannot see if seeds of other types have landed there also which will come up at the same time to choke out the beauty you have planted. You only sow the seed. 

No where in these nine verses did the Lord say in this parable that the one who sowed the seed was responsible for growing the seed.  That is contingent on so many things in the natural: in season vs out of season, growing zone, sunlight, moisture, food source. The same holds in the spiritual aspect. You can sow a seed all day, but unless it is the season for it to produce it will remain dormant.  And as the sower, you cannot make the season be. 

You also cannot do anything to change the growing zone of where you are located. For a spiritual connection, we cannot change the community where we are planted in with their heritage and traditions. A growing zone is determined by temperature variations.  Sub-categories of A and B exist because of 5 degree trends on average.  This temperature fluctuation is like that of the denominations.  This zone is Baptist dominant, that one Methodist.  Don't forget the Church of Christ zone over there. You have your subcategories in the Baptist and Methodist of traditionalist and modern based on which service they feel is more "hip". But again, as with the season, there is little that you can do to effect the zone in which you are sowing. 

Why do I keep saying that phrase of there is nothing you can do or little that you can do? Because this is your reminder that causing the seed to grow to produce a harvest is not your job.  Your only responsibility in all of this was to be a sower. It is your responsibility to knock on that door, to hand out that card, to make that phone call or text, send that Facebook message or share that post. How it is received or responded to is not your concern. The Lord of the Harvest will produce the increase in His timing. 

You are the sower. He is the grower. Do not confuse the two. If you ever reach the point of thinking you are causing a seed to grow, it's time to recheck some things. When the enemy started telling me that I was a failure because this person didn't repent or that person brushed me off, I got down because the growth wasn't taking place to produce a harvest. But when did I become the one to give the increase?1 Corinthians 3:6-8 says it this way, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour." 

You can plant the seed, water it, nourish it, the ground and soil be perfect with the sun shining down just right and still not see anytime of growth taking place.  These are more difficult to explain and make no sense. If everything is perfect to produce a harvest, why didn't it happen? Because at the end of the day, our lives and the words that we speak are overridden by that which we all have: FREE WILL. 

Every condition can be met and you still see no growth but guess what--it's still not on you. Your job continues to be to just to sow the seed. It really does change your perspective when you realize that you don't have to make the seed produce. You sow it. He grows it. "Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.", Matthew 9:37-38. He will send laborers to bring in the harvest. 

As a sower, you may be tasked with being a laborer for the harvest. You bring in the harvest which is found to be in the field. But sometime, spiritually just as in the natural, the harvest a spoiled on the vine before it can be reaped. Because no one wants to work in the fields. Sowing is one thing. You walk along and scatter. The Lord produces the growth needed for the harvest. But where are the laborers when it's time to bring in the harvest? But that's a topic for another day. 

Be the sower not the grower.