But people need time. The seeds we sow
are not magic beans. We won’t plant them and wake up the
next morning to discover a beanstalk full of beans waiting
to be harvested. Just like in actual planting, even when the
soil is properly prepared it will take some time for the
plant to sprout. Even after the plant has broken through the
soil and leaves are formed, more time is required before a
harvest can be made.
Returning to our building analogy,
even after we have a solid foundation and have constructed
our walls, the building isn’t done. Our project now has
shape, the outline can be seen. Still, a roof needs to go on
top. Windows needs to be installed. Drywall or paneling
needs to be put up. Painting is needed. While we may have
come a long way from where we’ve started, we’re still a long
way from finishing.
Just because we got a friend to come
to church, although it is a victory, doesn’t mean that the
work is through and that the person is now a Christian. It
may take some time before your conversations with your
friend really starts to sink in and they take it to heart.
We can’t expect immediate returns. Even when we’ve done all
the work of establishing a relationship and have caused the
person to see a need for Christ, it still isn’t easy. We may
feel defeated when we present the gospel and a person
doesn’t understand fully or isn’t ready to accept yet.
On average, a person must hear the
gospel seven times before they accept it. This means that
you may never see the fruit of your labors. You may work
with someone for years and never see them come to Christ
then watch them move away. Six months later they may write
to you about how they became a Christian. All of that work
you did, and now someone else even gets the credit for it!
However, the work you do is still a
necessary part in bringing people to Christ. Even Paul
recognized that not everyone whom he taught was brought to
Christ immediately. Instead, Apollos later came along and
built on the foundation that Paul had laid. But neither one
took credit for their work because it was God who caused
growth.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 says:
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what
is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as
the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed,
Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who
plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who
makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters
have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his
own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's
field, God's building.”
We may never know the impact that we make upon people. Words
that we say may seem to never be heeded but they may be
recalled to memory years later.
We may never be aware of when a person
came to Christ either. For many people, salvation is a
gradual process and one day a person may wake up and realize
that they are a Christian. They can’t look back at any
moment when they suddenly “got it” but they realize that at
some point they understood.
We can’t rush the salvation process.
We can’t force people into a decision that they are not
ready to make. We can only pray that God would soften hearts
so that once the seed is planted, it would spring up
quickly.
God has all of the time in the world,
even if we don’t. Even if we don’t think we can wait to see
a person come to Christ, God never grows tired and when that
time does come along, God is ready to accept that person
with open arms.
Next Chapter -
Four Soils
