Have you ever heard someone ask, “I wonder what Heaven is like?”
Many times in the Gospels Jesus began a teaching of a parable by saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”
On one occasion Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to a farmer, or one who sews seed.
“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Mark 4:26-29
It wasn’t uncommon for Jesus to use the imagery of farming to describe the kingdom of heaven. Farming was an occupation that his followers were well familiar with and could relate to.
In this passage Jesus likens the excitement and thrill of planting seeds in the soil and waiting eagerly for them to appear to His kingdom.
After a farmer or gardener has planted the seeds, they have little control over the results. Sure, you can tend to the plant by watering it and fertilizing it, but you can’t actually make it grow. Only God can do that.
When the little sprouts first start to stick out of the ground the planter is somewhat relieved, realizing that the seed has started to grow.
The same can be said of the followers of Christ when we share the Gospel to the world around us.
We begin by simply sharing the seed, the Gospel message of salvation. While we can offer prayer, encouragement, resources and more, true salvation (the harvest) comes solely from God.
It can be frustrating waiting to see if someone receives the message of salvation and accepts it, but as we see their life transform and grow into a new creation it becomes as thrilling as watching our planted seeds grow from the ground and produce vegetation.
Then, to top it all off, it becomes even more exciting when that individual becomes mature enough to feed others the message of the Gospel and to plant seeds into the lives of other people who need the message of salvation.
Want to know a little about what heaven will look like? Well, when you get there, hopefully you will see others in the presence of God because YOU took the time to sow the seed of faith to them.
Share the Good News!