Hungry for God: The Mystery of Growth

“And He said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’”—Mark 4:26-29.

God is the one who grows His kingdom, but He invites us to do it. We are commanded to go and preach His Gospel and to pray for the furtherance of His kingdom. C.S. Lewis describes the peculiar nature of our responsibility,

“But neither does God need any of those things that are done by finite agents, whether living or inanimate. He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and butchers; or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows soils and weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills of men to co-operate in the execution of His will. …For He seems to do nothing of Himself which he can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.”—C.S. Lewis, The World’s Last Night and Other Essays, p. 8-9.

God delights in using us as His ambassadors to this world, as the Bible says:

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God”—2 Corinthians 5:20.

We are pleading for the lost to be reconciled to God, but we must also remember that as we go, God is the one who is sovereign over salvation. As the Bible says,

“When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life’”—Acts 11:18.

He is the one who grants repentance that leads to life (cf. Acts 11:18), He is the one who gives us the faith to believe (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:7), He is the one who gives the gift of salvation (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9), and He is the one who grows us in grace (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-6). Salvation is from God—the beginning to the end—but He still invites us to be a part of the process and man still has the responsibility to respond. We can’t pretend to understand the ways of God, but we trust Him, walking in faith, knowing that He is going to honor our efforts for Him. His Word will not return void (cf. Isaiah 55:11), and there will be a harvest if we do not give up (cf. Galatians 6:9), because God is going to grow it and accomplish His purposes and has given us the privilege and honor to work with Him to make it happen. Amen.