Mensa Otabil - Commit to Process
- Watch
- Donate
This is the day number nine of our fresh start, and we go to the Book of Mark, chapter 4, verses 26 and 27. And he said, «The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seeds should sprout and grow; he himself does not know how.»
Jesus talked about very deep spiritual truths regarding our relationship with God, righteousness, holiness, and becoming children of God. But he also taught principles that are applicable to our lives and the decisions we make every day because Jesus lived in a very practical world. His teachings were very, very practical, applicable at the natural level as well as at the spiritual level. This is one of those teachings of Jesus Christ that has spiritual application as well as natural application in life.
There are a few things that Jesus teaches about the process we go through as we wait for something we have started to manifest as results. He uses the idiom of agriculture; he talks about scattering seed on the ground. There is a time to sow a seed, and a seed, basically, is an action you take with an expectation of some results. It could be prayer, an investment you make, a friendship you start — it’s just an action you take hoping that it will produce results for you. That’s a seed. When you start, you scatter your seed; you take an action, you do something, and you have clear expectations that those actions will bring you a result.
So that’s where you start: you start by taking clear actions, but think of your actions as seeds you are sowing, just like the farmer takes a seed of corn and puts it in the ground. Your actions- a smile you give, a letter you write, an application you submit-it’s all a seed; it’s an action you have taken expecting something to come out of it. After you have taken that first action of sowing the seed, you sleep by night and wake up by day.
What does that mean? It means you go through the normal routine of life, of sleeping and waking up-it’s the process of life. After you take an action, you go through life as it presents itself to you, and you wait, expect, and anticipate. He says that the farmer does the same thing; the farmer doesn’t sow the seed on the ground and go out every morning to check on the seed to see whether it’s germinating. If you do that every evening, you’ll put it back in, and there will be no harvest.
So, you trust the process that what you have started will bear fruit. You trust the process; you’ve done the good thing, said the right things, smiled, sent in the application, and made the investment. Just work and wait. While we are waiting, God is working because God does not rest when we start a process in his name. He watches over what we’re doing and guides it to fruition. The third thing that Jesus says happens is that the seed will sprout and grow. That means it will manifest, it will grow, it will germinate. This year, there are many things we’re going to do as seeds.
There are actions you’re going to take, and they must be thoughtful actions-actions with an expected result. If you want people to be nice to you, you sow seeds of kindness, niceness, and smiling at people because you want to receive smiles and niceness back. While you do that, the results are not going to manifest instantly; you have to wait for the process and be patient. Don’t rush the process. As you wait, God takes your seed and makes it sprout and grow, and so you’re going to see some great things grow and sprout in your life this year.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I know you are working on my behalf. Help me to patiently wait to gather in my harvest. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»