What seeds are you planting with the way you live your life?

Are you planting seeds of love? Are you planting seeds of joy? Are you planting seeds of hope? Are you planting seeds of faith? Are you planting seeds of peace? Are you planting seeds of encouragement? Are you planting seeds of wisdom? Are you planting seeds of patience? Are you planting seeds of kindness? Are you planting seeds of perseverance? Are you planting seeds of humility? Are you building relationships so that hearts are open for your seeds? Are you building relationships through integrity and honesty, love and faith? What you plant is what will grow or put another way, what you sow you will reap! If you aren’t planting seeds that produce good fruit you aren’t going to harvest good stuff. Reflect on what you are planting into the lives of those you interact with, encounter, live with, work with today and consider what harvest is taking place and if maybe you have been planting the wrong seeds and need to change your ways.

Today’s reading starts with the topic of sowing, listen to how it was told and the explanation of what it means…

The Parable of the Sower

(Matthew 13.1-9; Mark 4.1-9)
4People kept coming to Jesus from one town after another; and when a great crowd gathered, Jesus told this parable: 5“Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it up. 6Some of it fell on rocky ground, and when the plants sprouted, they dried up because the soil had no moisture. 7Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up with the plants and choked them. 8And some seeds fell in good soil; the plants grew and bore grain, one hundred grains each.” And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!”

The Purpose of the Parables

(Matthew 13.10-17; Mark 4.10-12)
9His disciples asked Jesus what this parable meant, 10and he answered, “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God has been given to you, but to the rest it comes by means of parables, so that they may look but not see, and listen but not understand.

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower

(Matthew 13.18-23; Mark 4.13-20)
11“This is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. 12The seeds that fell along the path stand for those who hear; but the Devil comes and takes the message away from their hearts in order to keep them from believing and being saved. 13The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly. But it does not sink deep into them; they believe only for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away. 14The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear; but the worries and riches and pleasures of this life crowd in and choke them, and their fruit never ripens. 15The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.
–from Luke8

It is important to also realize the land or soil into which you are planting. It may need to be tilled to soften it. It may need to be weeded to remove some of the barriers to growth. It may be that you are to prepare the soil and that someone else will plant and yet another will water. It’s God that will make it grow! God has a plan and a purpose for each of us! If we do our part, His will and perfect plan will be fulfilled! You have been spiritually alive through your relationship with Jesus and so allow that life, transformed and eternal to shine and make an impact into the world around you.

 8See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ. 9For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, 10and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority. 11In union with Christ you were circumcised, not with the circumcision that is made by human beings, but with the circumcision made by Christ, which consists of being freed from the power of this sinful self. 12For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. 13You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; 14he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. 15And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession. –from Colossians 2

So let’s seek God’s will for our lives today! Let’s pursue His plans! Because without Him, we labor in vein, it’s all for nothing!

1If the Lord does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless; if the Lord does not protect the city, it does no good for the sentries to stand guard. 2It is useless to work so hard for a living, getting up early and going to bed late. For the Lord provides for those he loves, while they are asleep. 3Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a real blessing. 4The sons a man has when he is young are like arrows in a soldier’s hand. 5Happy is the man who has many such arrows. He will never be defeated when he meets his enemies in the place of judgment. –from Psalm 127