Seasons: Summer — Friday
Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (ESV)
I will never not be amazed by trees. Their giant bodies provide anything from shade to protection to food. My favorite place to spend time with the Lord is sitting beneath the pine trees at Jacobson Park in Lexington. I like to lay on the ground and stare up in awe, wondering how long ago the trees were planted and how many people have enjoyed them. Kentucky Poet Wendell Berry says in his poem Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, “Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.”
I believe this is a picture of what it looks like to contribute to the growth of the kingdom of God. We are commissioned to go out and make disciples, teaching them to obey the Lord’s commands. Those following the commands of the Lord will work hard to spread the gospel, but in reality, we will not get to see all of the fruit of that labor. In other words, we will plant sequoia seeds that we will never see bloom. Yet we can have hope that future generations will benefit from the work we did not start but only tended to while here on Earth.
Think back to someone who tended the seeds planted in you. I think of a girl I went to high school with. She showed me how Jesus loved people three years before I gave my life to Christ. We haven’t spoken in eight years. I never got to thank her for showing me Jesus. She doesn’t know that I am now dedicated to serving the Lord with my entire life. She got no reward, but that work has impacted my life and the life of the generations that will stem from me. That is what Paul was referring to when he said we will receive the inheritance as our reward. We aren’t promised to see the finished product, but it’s not our job to finish. We can have faith knowing that what Paul said in Philippians 1:6 is true while we continue to tend to the crops He has given us.
Friday’s Reflection
Reflect on where in your life you are tending to the crops. If you aren’t currently serving God’s kingdom, check out southland.church/volunteer. If you are serving somewhere, thank the Lord for the good work He is already doing and ask Him to continue it.