Sowing Seed

In the book of Matthew chapter 13 we find a story Jesus told about service. Note verse 3 , “Behold, a sower went forth to sow…”
Let us look at what this sowing is all about.
In his story Jesus is telling us if we don’t sow we can’t reap. He is also telling us that not every seed we sow will produce fruit. There is a great mystery today how people seem to think they can get rewards without doing any work. Or reap without sowing. Farmers don’t expect that. Farmers gather their seed in the spring and prepare the ground and plant all the seed. I don’t know of any farmer who plows the ground then leaves the seed in the sacks in the barn and expect to harvest in the fall. Do you?
The prophet Isaiah told us to sow everywhere. “blessed are ye that sow beside all waters…” Isaiah 32:20
In 2 Corinthians 9:6 we find we are to sow bountifully (or a lot). “He who soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he who soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.”
Let me ask you this question how good do you think your seed is if it is stored away inside the covers of your bible? If people don’t get to hear about Jesus how then can they get saved? How did you get saved? Did it just happen one dark and stormy night by magic or did someone tell you about the love of Jesus. Did they tell you about the cross the Son of God died on for your sins? Or did you just some how get a revelation and here you are? No someone sowed some seed and someone watered the seed and God gave the increase.
Paul ask these very same questions in Romans 10: 14 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”
Oh I see you don’t want to be a preacher. I would like to share with you a personal experience. Some 30 years ago I was working as an electrician in a potash mine. I had a good living, a good family and I thought I was doing ok. A co-worker always had a new testament in his pocket and I like many teased him about his little bible. One day I just came out and ask him why he carried that bible to work. He told me it gave him peace, joy and strength to face each day. That is all he told me. That small seed started to grow. It had struck a cord in my mind. You mean to tell me that little book can make me stronger? The more I thought about that the more curious I became until one day I invited my friend and his wife over to the house for dinner. After dinner I started asking all sorts of questions about how to get this strength he talked about. I thought it was some magic pill or something I could buy or find if I got me one of these little books. Oh I knew all about church or at lease where the church was. I knew there was a man called Jesus. I knew there was a god somewhere, because those I ran with were always calling his name when ever things went wrong. I thought I knew all about being religious and how I probably didn’t need all that church stuff. As we talked my friend asked me this question, “If you died tonight where would you go?” My answer,”Die? I’m not going to die. I’m not sick.” His answer, “Are you sure?” To make a long story short he went out to his car and came back with a BIG book; a big black well worn book. He ask if he could show me from God’s Word how I could find peace and strength. Well yes now I see that he had a much bigger book that probably had a lot more power than that little book I see him carrying to work. Show me he did! There at my coffee table in my living room I met Jesus for the first time. True to his word I found peace and such relief as I felt the weight of the world was lifted off me. Words cannot explain or express how I felt but one thing was for sure I was not the same person. Jesus was real to me and I felt I could conquer the world. Looking back now I see that weight was all my sin debt I had been carrying. Jesus took that off me and put my sin on His shoulders and told me he would carry it for me from now own.
Now my friend was not and is still not a preacher. At lease not in the sense of the word that he stands in a pulpit every Sunday, but in my mind he is a preacher none the less. Would I have found Jesus had he not carried that little book to work? Who knows, but I am sure glad he did.
So my friend planted the seed at work, the Holy spirit watered that seed in my mind then God gave the increase as he brought that seed to life in my heart. So you see you never know about the seed you plant, but God does. Where do you keep your seed between the covers of a bible or do you put them in fertile ground in someone’s soul?