“Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply
and multiply the seed you have sown and
increase the fruits of your righteousness,” ~2 Corinthians 9:10
“Now may He who supplies seed to
the sower, and bread for food”
God gives us all that we need for a spiritual relationship
with Him. Simply put, Him, the Bible, and us.
“supply and multiply the seed”
He has the power, and WILL multiply what He has given us.
“you have sown and increase the fruits of
your righteousness”
BUT, before He will “multiply the seed”; we have to put in
effort. For example, we cannot expect a deep, spiritual relationship with God
if we do not regularly read our Bibles, etc.
This reality is further emphasized by the following passage:
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he
who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the
Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let
us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do
not lose heart.” ~Galatians 6:7-9
To put this passage into more easy-to-understand
terms:
God is not a God of the lazy, but a God of those
who put in effort. If you put your effort into things that are of a sin nature,
you will get results of a sin nature. But if you sow according to that which is
good and comes from God you will get results that are good and come from
God. This won’t come instantly however.
You may have to go quite a while of simply putting in effort before you get the
results. But don’t worry, it WILL come, even if it takes a while.
If we think about this in terms of a spiritual
relationship with God; we will come to realize that we need to put effort (such
as reading our Bibles, prayer, etc.) into a spiritual relationship before we
can expect results (spirit of wisdom, revelation in the knowledge of Himself,
enlightened eyes of understanding, knowing hope, etc. See Eph. 1:17).
In my personal opinion, I think we all go through
ups and downs in our spiritual relationship with God; or at least I know I
have. But one thing I have learned time and time again is that I need to SOW
before I can REAP. So badly do we want to reap without sowing; but I am afraid
that is not the way life works.
So I encourage you, if right now you are in a
valley and not a mountain, read you Bible, pray, get in touch with you God and
at the proper time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up.
Right you are, Brittany! So often, we unknowingly fall prey to a blatant lie. We don't expect good relationships with people without spending time with them, but we expect a good relationship with God to just drop in our laps one day, and unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. If we want a relationship with God, we have to invest the time, just like any other relationship.
ReplyDeleteGood post! I'm glad I ran across your blog. I enjoy knowing that there are likeminded young people out there! Thanks for the encouragement.
And I am glad that you came across my blog so I could come across your blog! :) Young, Reformed people that happen to also be theological AND spiritual is VERY rare to find.
DeleteHi Brittany,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great reminder and encouragement. It is easy to forget sometimes that we need to sow the seeds to get a plentiful harvest. When in the valley it's hard to remember, but God's plan is always better than my own, I've come to learn. I'm so glad I came across your blog and it's great to connect with you. God bless. ~Rachel
Yes, I am glad that I got in contact with you too! Thanks for joining the Facebook group; I hope you are edified by it! :D
DeleteAs I've been working on a dream this year, I've realized how much WORK is involved. See, somehow we get caught up in the idea that if God really wants us to do this ministry that it'll all just magically work out, that we shouldn't have to actually DO anything.
ReplyDeleteThat's the opposite of how it works. God is waiting on us to step out in faith and do the work He has called us to do. Then He will show up and do his miraculous works through our minuscule efforts and the masses will be blessed. Only if we put the work in first.
Thank you so much for sharing this with the #ThursdayTheologyBlogs! I hope you will join us weekly! I see you are already making new contacts! This is the body of Christ in action!!!
Yes! I plan on definitely joining weekly! This seems like a great thing you are doing, and is a really good way for bloggers to get in contact with each other!
DeleteJust wondering, the "ministry" you are talking about; are you referring to your Christian blogging ministry? :)
Thank you for sharing. Often we want God to do everything, not realizing He finished it on the cross. We have a part to play and we have to feed upon His word and stay in fellowship with Him daily.
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
Delete