WATCHWORD:
When we read God’s messages to us, sometimes the message is hard to understand, and harsh in what it is saying to us. This passage is no different, yet the message speaks to us.
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ.
2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?
4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says… “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul?
We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 1 Corinthians 3:1-7
Meditation:
If it’s not there
My partner had just finished reading her morning devotional, and was pretty thrilled with what the reading had said to her. She commented that she wished her friend would read it. I suggested she get her the book, but her reply was that the friend probably would not read ‘that stuff’ and in fact her eyesight wasn’t all that good. I persisted a bit, saying there are large print devotionals that you like and believe would be helpful to her, so, plant the seed, put the book in her space. She can’t read it if it’s not there.
My partner went on to say that this person had been her best friend for more than twenty years and is now so sad over the loss of her son — she needs a grief counselor. Then she spoke of how valuable such a counselor had been during the period following the loss of her husband. I asked her about that experience and if that counselor was referred by Hospice. Yes, she replied, but she became a friend in my need.
The greatest credential a person can have in reaching out to hurting friends is that label, ‘friend’. I encouraged my partner to continue doing what she was doing with her contacts, her long telephone talks, etc. Even as I said that, I realized that I wasn’t only speaking to her, I was reminding myself that I carried those same credentials, ‘friend’, ‘dad’, ‘grandpa’. You have a PHD – Prepared, Helpful and Devoted!
So many of Jesus parables are stories just like this one. Mark 4 records three of the forty parables in the gospels – the parable of the sower (vv. 3-20), the growing seed (vv. 26-29), and the mustard seed (vv. 30-33).
Oh yes, the seed. The seed is the Word of God, when planted on ‘good soil’, or the receptive heart, the life-bearing seed grows steadily and produces grain without any human effort. This is the unseen work of God – a work of grace. Only God makes the seed grow.
In the first two paragraphs, what is the seed? Well, first of all it was my partner reading her devotional. Second seed, how the reading touched her heart. Third seed, was thinking and applying it to her hurting friend. Fourth seed, the book, getting it into her space. Fifth seed, knowing her friend needed support. Sixth seed, realizing she could supply that support with God’s help. Seventh seed, knowing all of life stories are God’s parables, including our own.
There you are, a whole packet of God’s seeds, contained within our life stories. We all have stories, each of us, we don’t always have those written out in story form or in books, but they are written all over our lives. Some of the stories are entitled ‘regrets’, and even in regrets we should be learning. Some of those top-selling stories are entitled ‘loss’, and even in loss we learn about grief, which equips us in very unique ways to reach out to others in that same circumstance. Some of our stories are entitled ‘victory’, and it brings joy and happiness to our lives and it’s that joy and happiness that we need to reach out to others. Planting more seeds?
So, how about you? What is the parable of Bob? What is the parable of Gary, of Peter, of Chuck, of Shirley, of Graham, of Carol, of Lee, of Mary, of Robin, of you, the reader? Can you count the seeds that God has planted in you? You know, each one of us should be praying for the other that the seeds God scatters in our lives would find good soil. Amen? Amen!
Bulletin Board:
Bird of Happiness revealed – Dianne Wichern tells us that the little red-capped bird of happiness is a House Finch. Thanks.
Closing Prayer:
Dear God, at the start of each day, help us to recognize you above all else. Enlighten the eyes of our heart that we might see you, and notice how you’re at work through our lives. Give us wisdom to make the best choices, fill us with a desire to seek after you more than anything else in this world. Let your Spirit and power breathe in us, through us, again, fresh and new. Thank you that you are greater than anything we may face in our day. Thank you that your presence goes with us, and that your joy is never dependent on our circumstances, but it is our true and lasting strength, no matter what we’re up against. We ask that your peace lead us, that it would guard our hearts and minds in you. We ask for your grace to cover our lives this day. We love you Lord…we need you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
