Purposeful, not random

The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident. (Francesco Guicciardini)

Give freely, and you will profit. Help others, and you will gain more for yourself. (Proverbs11:25)

The actions of sowing and reaping are well-established. The seed is put into the ground, the harvest is tended, then it is reaped, allowing for provision today and into the future. If the one sowing stopped sowing, would the harvest end? Eventually, for natural 'reseeding' occurs to some extent, but to yield a sustainable crop for generations to come, one must purposefully plant. 

The purposeful actions of today will produce a harvest well into the future, but all that is sown must be tended. We might share the hope of the gospel, but are we always the ones to tend it? No, there is usually some 'tending' done by someone other than us - perhaps the Holy Spirit alone, or perhaps he will engage another who will refresh the soil of the heart time and time again until that 'seed of faith' is properly germinated. Either way, the seed only germinates because it is tended.

We can give a lot out of our lives - what gets tended will yield the biggest 'crop'. It may not always be evident how much we are tending the crop in another's life, but when there are purposeful actions to love one another as Christ loves each of us, there is sure to be a germination of grace and love in the process. What is reaped will not always be evident for the 'purposeful seeds' we plant, though. Sometimes we see a harvest way different from what we expected!

God trusts us to be 'generous in our sowing' - he gave grace so freely, so we give freely from that position of grace. Let there be purpose behind your actions, my friends. When there is purposeful giving, there is purposeful reaping. Random 'seeding' is fine if we want a 'random' harvest. Purposeful planting yeilds a predetermined harvest. Just sayin!