Am I a farmer? Do I plant the seeds I myself grow? Are goodness, kindness, patience, self-control, faithfulness, gentleness, peace, and joy all the crops I am responsible to grow? Each one starts as a seed and grows. But the question is, "Am I the farmer or just the soil in which the seeds are sowed?"
Does soil reap what it sows? No! It simply is what it is, fertile or not it remains motionless, unless stirred or tilled by the farmer.
A farmer is entrusted with seeds. In order for the seeds to grow he plants them where the sun will shine on them. He waters them, and weeds around the plants to help them grow. He cares for them by banking dirt around them during rain storms and by blanketing them when the weather turns cold. The farmer plants, grows, and eats the fruit, born of his own sweat; sprung forth by the working of his own hands.
I see two points of view and one is a deceptive folly.
One view says God is the farmer and we are the soil. God plants the seeds and makes us useful for the time we are used to help the plants grow strong. When we become infertile God tills us up and fertilizes us with hard times, giving us more character to grow better crops of his choosing. Our lives, like the seasons, go round in circles. We are as useful as soil or as useless as dirt, depending on whether we choose to let God farm us into something of worth or not.
View number two says we are the farmers. God provides us with the seeds, which are pieces of himself to bloom and grow in our inner field or being. These seeds need help to grow by the farmers determination, the working of his hands and heart. God is the light and the rain that influences the growth of our fruit. In times of drought and struggle God is the air we breath and we are sustained with the promise of spring and a new satchel of seeds, organic as they can be, straight from the purest source. As the farmer, we reap what we sow. The fruit of faithfulness draws those who are faithful, the fruit of peace brings tranquility, the fruit of gentleness, goodness, patience, kindness, self-control, helps us love others as God has loved us, also giving us meaningful relationships, and time well spent.
Galation 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Each fruit of the spirit lives and grows in us and through us. It benefits us, giving us worth, joy, and a life of abundance. Our fruit is eaten by those who are hungry and the seeds from our fruit eaten, get planted deep in a belly. A seed from a watermelon swallowed, really doesn't grow and grow into a watermelon inside us. But I assure you the seeds of kindness, gentleness...etc. swallowed, will grow up another farmer, God will guide, sustain, lead, love, and cherish as his own.
You might be thinking both point of view sound right and perhaps even scriptural. You might even be thinking up some sing song scriptures that seem to confirm the first point, more than the second. Such as " From dust to dust, ashes to ashes" " the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground." There is more than one problem with this view. If we were created to be his puppets on strings or soil to be turned, used and turned again, why give us free choice. Why give us a choice to love him or not, to serve him or not, to be lead by him or not, to believe in him or not? Why did he die for those whose worth is nothing but dust blowing here and there? Why bother trying to have a relationship with that spec of sand grating in his eye, causing tears of pain?
I will tell you why! Out of all of creation we were the only ones made as well as created. To create means to make something out of nothing. From the birds to the stars, he spoke life into existence. But us, he made as well. To make you have to have something to work with. You make something out of something!
Genesis 2:7 The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
From the work of his hands he molded us, formed us, shaped us into His image and breathed his own breath of life into our lungs. We are not just soil to be trampled on . We are his sons and daughters. We are the very craftsmanship of his hands. However big and mighty they are, his hands were gentle enough, patient enough, to knit our souls, our bodies together. Who is God to the farmer? God is our Father!
He knew we were hard pressed and dying from the drought sin brought into the world. He sent his son a piece of himself, to be our brother, our best friend, our teacher, our farmers almanac! He died for us in order for us to be able to communicate with our Big Daddy again, in order for us to be washed clean and have life and have it in abundance. As farmers, with Jesus at our side; our well of living water, just imagine the crops that we can grow! Just imagine the difference we can make with our lives, and our fruit. Our Job: learn, grow, learn to love others well, more deeply and truly.
Luke 10:27 ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
1Corinthians 13:1-8
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
Choose to cultivate your patience, choose to water gentleness, weed your self-control and let the son shine more on your peace and joy. Yes! I am a farmer! Yes! You and I, We are Farmers!
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