This morning, we continue our message series entitled, “Plant” where we are challenging ourselves to be more intentional about the Biblical life principle that we reap what we sow; we harvest what we plant. 

We want to plant the things of God both into our lives and into those around us.  We want to allow Him to develop and grow good roots within us which produce good fruits.

Galatians 6:7

Do not be deceived:

God cannot be mocked.

A man reaps what he sows.

When planning a garden, would you go to the store, dump a bunch of seeds into a bag, mix it up, dump it in a big pile on your front lawn and then say, “Well, if it’s meant to be, it’ll be!”?

No!  Instead, you carefully plan out your garden based on what you want to harvest.  You select the right place for it that has the right ground, the right amount of sunlight, and the right moisture.  You then cultivate that ground. 

Lastly, you buy specific seeds for the fruits and veggies that you want to harvest and intentionally plant every individual seed exactly where you want it to grow.  When anything begins to grow that you did not intentionally plant, you pull it up by the roots and cast it aside to its death.

1 Corinthians 3:9

…you are God’s field…

How is God’s field looking?  Take a moment, reflect on your life objectively looking at it as if though it were a large field. 

Is it looking like a chaotic potluck of plants that changes with every step through it?  Does one get tangled up in weeds and thorns as they are looking for the good in it?  Are we a little prickly and unapproachable?  Would others want the fruit that it is producing?

Or is it an easy to navigate field with a plentiful bounty of good plants bearing a good harvest?  Is it a field that looks inviting to others and one that they would gladly eat from?  Is it one that others would want to model their own lives after?

It’s not that God demands perfection or that He doesn’t love us and the hot mess that we may be.  It’s about where our hearts and desires are at.  Do we want to live a life that honors and glorifies God?  Do we want to follow His plans and purposes, His blueprint, for our lives?

Having a humble heart that trusts God and His ways enables Him to arrange our life, His field, in such a way that is able to grow well, become healthy, and to produce good fruit.

Thankfully, so long as we live, we have the opportunity to work on our lives and to allow God to transform these fields that we are from chaos to abundance!

Thankfully, so long as we live, we have the opportunity to work on our lives and to allow God to transform them from chaos to abundance!

When we see a rainbow in the sky, we remember the covenant that God made with Noah, but we don’t often recall this part of that promise!  After leaving the ark, Noah built and altar and gave an offering to the Lord on it.

Genesis 8:21-22

21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 “As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease.”

So long as you draw another breath, it is still an unceasing opportunity to sow and reap; plant and harvest.  The field of your life can still reach its full potential!

We must be mindful of this, however.

We’re not going to be walking about through life and all of the sudden stumble into a season of peace and joy and patience.  No, if we want to produce a rich and plentiful harvest of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives, then we need to cultivate and plant the seed of the Spirit into our lives.  We need to weed out anything else that tries to grow and compete with it.

It will not happen accidentally.  It requires us to be intentional about how we cultivate and