The reason I so like the verse in James is that it
brings us a picture of what we must do to bring the harvest of righteousness
about, we must sow the seeds of righteousness, seed by seed, so that our
harvest will be plentiful. We must sow seeds daily---weekly--for our whole
lives, that there will be remnants of His beauty, peace, redemption, everywhere
we go, every day that we live.
The seeds I sow are in relationship to people in my
life every day. I must make a decision in my heart to sow a seed of peace where
there is strife--to choose to be a peace-maker and to sow God's love and
redemption. I must sow seeds of encouragement and faith through my words and
through my writing to bring others to the point of peace in their own lives.
Seed by seed, choice by choice, I have the ability to bring about a great
harvest that will be ready for reaping in the final day when I meet Jesus face to
face. But in order for a farmer to have a harvest, he must plan on what
he will sow, he must plan the seeds he will plant---it doesn't happen by
chance.
So I must choose what crop I will sow, how I will sow it, and choose to
sow it in each situation and in each relationship that God brings my way. Peace
and redemption also do not just happen by chance in my own life. There had to
be an intentional plan
It starts with a choice--to allow the Holy Spirit to
be Lord of our lives, even in the midst of strife; to decide ahead of time to
imagine what it looks like to bring peace and redemption to each moment of
life; to choose to sow righteousness into our relationships, because He chose
to sow righteousness and peace into our lives, even at great cost to Himself. I
believe that if thousands of His followers chose to sow this way each day, on
all of the fields of life, there would be such a great crop of righteousness,
visible beauty of His life, even in a place where so much darkness exists, that
many hearts would be open to Him and to His ways, because of the overwhelming
crop of righteousness present before their eyes.
But it all begins with a
choice in my heart and a plan to sow today, this day, in these fields where I
find myself.
Whoever it is that brings so much emotional
disappointment can keep us from the comforting love of God if we never make it
to the point of forgiveness and acceptance of the person and circumstances. I
know how deeply it can hurt to be rejected or ignored or treated unjustly. I have
shed many tears over many years.
Yet, I can honestly say, that it has been these
difficulties that have brought me to a place of freedom and joy. I have
desperately needed the grace of God and in so seeking it, I have found it to be
deeper than even I could imagine. He has shown me how deep His love is for me
and how much He wants me to give as deeply to those in my life, who like me,
don't deserve it, but need it all the same.
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