Planter? Waterer? Yes.

Good Morning,

1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV)
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it 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.

Many of us tire and become weary at evangelism because we don't see, as often as we'd like, the true fruits of our labors. What I mean is, after we have shared the Gospel message with someone we aren't around to actually see that person accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. So, in our humanity, we don't speak out as we should because we don't see results from what we might be doing.

Today, though, I hope that we all will understand what it is that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. You see, it isn't necessary to see "results" from our labors in speaking up about Jesus. Paul is clear here in saying that we all have a particular part to play, a job to do, but we don't all have the SAME job, nor do we all play the same part, in our endeavors to bring people to the knowledge of the Lord.

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." In the final analysis, it's only God who matters here because it's God who does the convincing. We're only there to be workers in His service and present that which we've been given to present. "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." We all have a job to do. Today it very well might be planting the seed of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow it could be watering that seed with showing how we live a Christian life. We may, or we may not, see that seed which was planted and then watered grow to maturity in God. That's not our place.

Paul tells us, "For we are God's fellow workers..." God depends on us to plant the seed we've been given and then to provide the watering of that seed so He can do the growing part. We're all in it together. We all have our part to do. I'm no more important than you in this process. You are no more important than another in it. Only God is what is truly important. Our place is to labor obediently...planting or watering, sometimes both.

So when you feel that your efforts may have been in vain in speaking God's message of salvation, please remember these verses of Scripture. That day you spoke, well, you were planting a seed. That day you helped someone, perhaps you were watering a seed that was planted by another. That day you saw a person raise a hand to accept Jesus, you saw God at work as He grew the seed.

Let's not weary in our jobs. We're all necessary.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David