Wait Or Work? Or Both?

Christians often struggle with the tension between God's role & our role in God's work. The two extremes are the "work, work, work" people & the "let's just pray & wait on God" people. However, the danger with these extremes is that one leads us to believe that the kingdom of God is completely dependent upon our efforts & the other leads us to a kind of paralysis that's based on the idea that we don't have anything to offer God. While this is a tension that we'll always have to manage, we must actively stay away from these extremes. Instead we should listen to a simple parable that Jesus told in Mark 4:26-29.

In this parable Jesus says, "The Kingdom of God is like this..." In other words, this is how the Kingdom works, this is how God advances His Kingdom. In the parable Jesus uses a farming analogy. He talks about how the farmer takes care of his responsibilities. He prepares the ground, sows the seed, tends to it, but he can't really control the growth. The farmer works with the natural process of a seed growing into a plant that eventually bears fruit. Jesus ends the parable by saying when the grain is ripe, the farmer goes back out & harvests the crop.

In this little parable Jesus clearly tells us that the Kingdom of God grows in the context of a partnership. We have a part to play in partnership with God's power. It's clear in this parable that the farmer does what he can do & trusts that the natural process of growth will happen. Then when the grain is ripe, the farmer goes back out & does what he can do: he brings the harvest in. There's an important spiritual principle here about how God & God's people work together to advance His Kingdom.

"When We Do What We Can Do & Trust God To Do

What Only He Can Do, Amazing Things Happen."

Just like the farmer can't make the seed grow, we cannot make the Kingdom advance. However, we, like the farmer, can do what we can to create the right environment for God to move. We can break ground, prepare the ground, sow the Gospel into the lives of people around us, water the soil, & pay attention to opportunities to bring the harvest in. After all, Jesus told His disciples that the issue wasn't that there was no harvest; the real issue was that there weren't enough workers to bring in the harvest. We all have a part to play in God's Kingdom, & we all have the opportunity to partner with Christ as He builds His church & advances His Kingdom. The key is to do what we can do & then trust & wait on God to do what only He can do so that lives are changed forever.