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Mustard Seed May/June 2006
It's Time To Plant
Mustard Seed - May/June 2006
This spring my wife and I planted around seventy fruit trees. As we gazed upon the newly planted orchard we commented that if we had just planted ten years ago how large the size of the harvests we would now have. Why didn’t we plant ten years ago? Why did we let all those years slip by? We were not lazy. We stayed busy. In fact we were so busy with our lives and the lives of others that we were too busy to plant for ourselves.
One way we failed to plant is spoken of in Proverbs 6:6-11: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”
A sluggard is not only one who sleeps but also one who will not work. They will spend all their time doing the things that please themselves. It may be in the form of television and movies or computer games and the internet. It may be in the form of books and magazines or food and entertainment or endless parties. Sluggards are too busy pleasing themselves that they do not have the time to plant much less tend to the plants until harvest or even harvest the fruits.
Christ wants us to be firstfruits with Him. If we will remain diligent in learning His ways and keeping His commandments He will not let us go hungry, ever! Proverbs 10:3-5 “The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. He becometh poor that dealeth [with] a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer [is] a wise son: [but] he that sleepeth in harvest [is] a son that causeth shame.” This promise is both a physical and a spiritual promise.
James 1:18 “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Romans 6:5 “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:”
God confirms that we will be joint-heir with Christ in His kingdom: Romans 8:16-18 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
1Corinthians 15:22-24 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then [cometh] the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.”
As Pentecost approaches let us look for opportunities where we can plant. And let us remember to watch over and care for that which we and others have planted and then we will be confident of the harvest which we will surely be a part of. Remember Proverbs
20:4 “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; [therefore] shall he beg in harvest, and [have] nothing.”
-Ed Costanza
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