“Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.“ (James 5:7)
If you’ve ever been to New Life Church’s beautiful 40 acre campus, you know that we have a hill with three large crosses. I love to go out there and
pray, read my Bible, and think. At the end of October, another church member and I went out there with rakes and a big box of bluebonnet seeds.
Imagine that hill below the crosses covered in bluebonnets!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out there looking for sprouts! How many times I’ve called my friend with the green thumb and asked: “When are they coming up?!” Her answer every time: “Be patient.”
In the book of James, he’s describing the Christian life in terms of a farmer. When we ask God for wisdom, we plant a seed. When we “tame the tongue” we plant a seed. When we forego temptation, when we do what the Bible says to do, when we add works to our faith, when we avoid greed, when we manage our relationships from a godly perspective…all of these are seeds of a great, Christian life…germinating, growing.
When we planted the field of flowers, we mowed it, set the boundaries, measured it, bought the right amount of seeds, raked and scraped it, removed rocks, and spread the seed. The rest is up to God – weather, rain, sun. But those bluebonnets are coming!
If you’re not planting seeds, there won’t be a harvest. But if you’re planting seeds and not yet seeing a dramatic change in your life – don’t give up! God is faithful, the harvest will come. Do the work and trust in God for the results.
We’ll talk about this Sunday in the last in our “Living (the) Faith” series from the book of James. See you then!
