Hi
Not only do we discern that a life of faith demands sacrifice; but we also learn that sacrifices are accompanied by blessings. Hence, in Matthew 5; for each sacrificial element of one’s life, there is a reward. In Romans 5, we also learn that even patience is forged through the flames of adversity.
Today’s Holy Nougat therefore, invites us to see our lives in seasons, realizing that our current adversity is the foundation for fruitfulness
“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.”
Psalms 126:5-6 NIV
For several of us the Covid-19 season has been the source of many tears. Sickness like a plague, natural and other disasters, limited access to basic hygiene (water or sanitizers) or protective equipment, scarce resources, unemployment and debt rising; are but some challenges we have faced. For many, fear abounded, some threw in the towel.
But fear can’t get the last word.
Our tears (and lack thereof) are sacrifices in their own right. They speak to God, and communicate our innermost selves – our desires, dreams, our brokenness, and our disappointments. They also serve to nourish that we have sown in God’s empire. You see, although it might feel otherwise, God is no one’s debtor; and the laws of seed time and harvest MUST prevail. Like produces Like. Even when we circumpose, the flower/fruit that emerges is that which is planted; and likewise when we graft.
Tears nourish the seeds of the soul – they are not the seeds. And while we may argue that death brings life, which it does to some extent, for life to come from the dead, it had to have been living before. Whether a seed, or a life on ventilator or us living sacrifices; God’s breath of life is that which made us alive in the first place, kept us going and the Only Thing that is guaranteed to revive us.
So if like follows like, then our living-ness in Christ carries the joy of the resurrection. A resurrection that comes because Christ also lives! And it is in the resurrection glory that the sheaves (fruit) appear. Some forty, some sixty, some hundredfold, some beyond anything that we can ever begin to imagine! For, in Jesus Christ, the Laws of seed time and harvest also means that ALL things work together for our good. Our most painful experience has the potential to yield the best fruits.
With that, I would encourage us to gather our tools, it’ll soon be time for the harvest! As we sacrifice our lives and spirits to our God, we will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. In Christ’s love and grace . . .
