When it comes to gardening, I tend to be very particular. I draw up a plan for how to layout what plants go where. One side gets more sun than the other. One side gets wetter in the spring than the other. And so I plan out which plants will do better in different locations. I plan out which plants will grow next to each other and which ones need space. I even get out a tape measure and measure off my rows and the distance between each plant. I till and rake and fertilize the soil until I have it as good as I can get it. And then I carefully add each plant or seed, one at a time, careful to put each one in just the right spot according to my plan.
Jesus also had thoughts about planting:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and the withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up an choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matt 13:3-8)
Unlike planting my garden, Jesus wants us to spread His Word everywhere. We don’t need to pick the just right spot where we think the Message will take root. We shouldn’t make judgements that some people are ‘bad or good soil.’ In fact we don’t even know what the ‘good soil’ is most of the time. Let’s be hard workers for the Lord and share His gospel as often as possible, everywhere we can, and let Jesus bring those seeds to life.