Forgiven Therefore Free: God Makes Things Grow

October 21, 2020

I’m not very good at waiting.  When I purchase a gift for someone, I want to give it to them instantly.  Amazon Prime is my kind of thing.  Shipping that takes more than two days seems unnecessarily long to me.  When a package does arrive, I am quick to the mailbox and quick to rip it open.  Even if it is simply toilet paper.  When I was pregnant, I always wanted to know the gender before birth.  I’m not good at waiting for results or really anything for that matter.

The work I do as a parent, a church member, Bible study leader, writer, speaker, and everything else we work at can, at times, feel like it is never going to amount to a hill of beans.  We work, work, work, yet we see nothing.

When I parent and direct my children, and ten seconds later they are doing the exact opposite of what I instructed them to do, the frustration bubbles up.  I did the work.  I want to see the results.

When I write a blog post or article, I rarely know who reads them or if any impact is made.

I think of friends who do foster care.  They work and they work hard.  Perhaps they see some change for the good in the children they care for, yet they do not know what will happen when those children leave their home.  Yet they continue to work on behalf of those kids.

The time we spend volunteering at church can feel fruitless at times.

Regardless of our work, we have a guarantee.  The guarantee is not based on growing conditions, circumstances, or our temperament.  It’s not as if there is enough water, fertilizer, and sun, then there will be a harvest.  We will “in due season reap.”  We have that guarantee because of who makes things grow.  The book of Galatians has encouraging words for us and the work we do.  “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap.”  Galatians 6:9.  The things done in the Spirit will not come up empty.

“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

1 Corininthians:5-9

We are able to keep going and not grow weary because we know the outcome.  We are not working in vain.  We do not need to rely on progress or improvement to convince ourselves to keep going.  We keep going because we are God’s fellow workers and only God makes things grow.  Regardless if we are the one God is using to plant or to water, we are working for one purpose.

What are the things in life that are frustrating and intimidating because you can’t see the good fruit of the work?

What good things in your life do you work at, yet still there is no or very little progress seen?

How do you forge ahead with these things we do without becoming discouraged to the point of abandonment?