Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:18, NIV)
The fairways where I play can get mighty bare come winter time. The wrong combination of rains and cold nights makes for shots from the mud and dirt. I’m not altogether opposed to lift, clean, and place rules when conditions get like this, but sometimes you’d have to move the ball 10 yards! That just never seems right.
Quantity, quality, variety—all come into play for those of us who would sow kingdom seeds.So we wait with patience. For the weather, and for the superintendent. Always we’re told, “It will be better soon.” And from the looks of the seed being sown, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Usually, things turn out just fine. Before long, we’ll be playing from the green grass again.
A golf course is a living, breathing thing. Every agronomist will tell you that. It’s impossible, really, to get the playing conditions just right all the time. It’s hard enough, Mike Davis’ tournament crew at the USGA will tell you, to get conditions right for just one particular week each year. That team is praying for a better convergence of circumstances at Oakmont in June than they had at Chambers Bay last year. The clock is ticking. The US Open tees off in just over three months.
Now let me ask you this: How about you? Are you looking ahead in the sowing you’re doing?
It’s an odd business, planting in faith. A tiny dry seed is supposed to spring to life, rooted and verdant. We’d never believe it if we hadn’t seen it for ourselves or been told it is so by someone we firmly trust.
But the metaphor is prevalent in the New Testament.
Jesus told the story of seed sown in good soil and producing a hundredfold. He said more poignantly of his coming death, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).
Without sowing, there is no production. Paul said of generosity that “those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly, while those who sow generously will reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Moreover, what is produced is the specific product of what is sown. Here Paul noted that “as a man sows, so shall he reap” and that those who sow to the flesh will reap destruction, but “whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Quantity, quality, variety—all come into play for those of us who would sow kingdom seeds. Consider today the work of your sowing hands.
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Jeff Hopper
March 14, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.