How Does Your Garden 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.” 1 Co. 3:7-9

Growers who manage farmland for an absentee landowner, sharing the harvest (or its profits) are known as sharecroppers or share farmers. They have been assigned a parcel of land by the landowner in exchange for their care and development of that land. In exchange they will receive some of the benefits from their labor. It is abundantly clear to the sharecropper that they have a partial ownership in the land and still fall under the authority of the landowner. It is to the sharecropper’s best interest to oversee the landowner’s property with care, concern and a passionate loyalty to that land. By putting his assignment first and foremost, he knows and believes that the rewards of his labor will follow.

We must have the same faith in Christ as we seek Him passionately and manage the fields for which He assigns. We plant and water in hopes to see life burst through the soil as we do our part in God’s field. He assigns areas of labor based on our talents, our gifts and our ability to tend to, manage and prepare. God sees the field completed as we are breaking ground preparing the soil, watering the area and looking for new life. We care for and manage our fields with the hope and faith of growth in the seasons to come.

We each have a partial ownership in the Kingdom as promised by the Landowner. He marks off plots of responsibilities for which He entrusts us in an effort to reward us at the same time we do His work.

What are you planting and how does your garden grow?