Friday, July 17, 2009

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Growth is in God's hands He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain first, then stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. " — Mark 4:26-28. Conditions for growth are not always present. We don't understand how and why things grow. It's a miracle. Recently, someone gave me some vegetable seed. This is a good time to plant and get a garden going. Therefore, I got some soil, placed it in an open box and scattered the seed in it. Within a number of days my seeds began to sprout. It is really a miracle how those seed turned into little sprouts. I know that I watered them, but I do not know how they came to life. The above parable is one of two from the text in Mark, which Jesus used to teach the people about the kingdom. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is as spontaneous as a seed. The farmer can plow and plant and fertilize, but the actual growth is out of any person's hands. A man scattered seed on the ground. After a little while the seed sprang up and grew. This happened whether the man was asleep or awake. How it happened, he did not know. We may analyze seeds and their growth, scientifically, but we can not explain how and why they grow. We plant and God causes growth. That is the miracle of God. This tells us something about the growth of the kingdom of God here on earth. In building God's kingdom here on earth, we are called to scatter seeds. Those seeds we scatter represent the good news of Jesus Christ, God's word. As we build God's kingdom here on earth, we often become depressed and overly concerned when we do not see an increase. What went wrong? What are we doing wrong? Maybe the group across the street are doing something that we are not doing. Once we plant the seed of God's word, then we are to let the Holy Spirit do His work. He is the one who calls and brings about the increase. The Spirit changes the hearts of the unbeliever and causes him to believe in Jesus Christ. That is not our business. Jesus points this out in the parable. We should not mistake our responsibility in the building of God's kingdom here on earth. We are planters. We do not cause growth. So often we get the mistaken idea that the growth of the church is entirely up to us. We go from one program to another and when the increase we expect does not come, we become discouraged. Jesus reminds us that the growth of the kingdom is really in God's hand and not ours. God's kingdom will grow regardless of what we do, and sometimes even in spite of what we do or don't do. We ourselves do not have the power to bring people into the kingdom. God can use us, our abilities, and our personalities, but it is still the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. Rev. Samuel M. Boodle, pastor at The Lutheran Church of Nassau, can be reached at P.O. Box N 4794, Nassau, Bahamas or telephone 323-4107. Thursday, June 18, 2009