The tender Word of God is a seed to be planted; not a sledge hammer to be swung.
Tenderness, to the Bible-jock, seems wimpy, shy, and weak. Bravery and muscle appeals more to the religious enthusiast. Thus the weighted hammer able to make an immediate big dent seems more logical.
However, the Word of God is referenced by Him as seed. It works without limelight in quiet manner. Seed is so unobtrusive one hardly realizes it's presence. Yet the beauty of the seed is it grows at a pace healthy for the surroundings in which it is planted.
Sowing kingdom seed is rarely a blockbuster deal. It takes such patience one will necessarily want to move on with other pertinent elements in life while God shines warmth and light on it even to sprout. Kingdom seed waits and waits out of sight and then, one day, ah-ha; we begin to note a crack in the earth!
I reached to Sherri nine long years before she ever came back to church. I've reached to some now for about 25 years with no sign of interest. However, I trust the seed. It has been planted. My job is to water and till.
Watering and tilling indicates you believe God is working when there is no sign to support such awareness. What we do is move about on God's green earth sowing seed (and not throwing hammers) that shy and unsure people may one day conclude they would also like to be adopted by God Himself. It takes no great skill to sow seed. Just toss it out there in kindness.
Seed sprouts. Hammers rust.
1 comment:
I recently read a novel about 1st century Christians. The thing that struck me was their evangelistic method. It was exactly what you're talking about... tenderly planting seeds. They couldn't door knock or do anything brash. It was about letting the Spirit bear his fruit in and through them. Then wait. (They were watering, but in the story, they weren't even meaning to. They were just doing the things Jesus led them to do.)
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