TIMES AND SEASONS

A TIME TO PLANT

How do we define planting?  Is it the same as sowing?  Most times, either word can be used in the place of the other.  For instance, a seed can be sown or it can be planted.  However, there are situations when the word 'planting' is more appropriate to use than the word 'sowing.'  For example, one can talk about plants that have already begun to grow and now are being replanted somewhere else.
Consider this when comparing a seed with a plant : Although a seed has life, it must first be buried in the soil and die before it receives new life and become a plant.  This is why when sowing a seed, you cannot really be absolutely sure what will happen.  However, if and when the seed germinates and becomes a plant, the work of the farmer is just starting.

Therefore, when a little plant then emerges, the hope of the sower or farmer is for the little plant to continue its development so that it can fulfill its potential.  This may involve replanting in a proven fertile ground.  It may also entail further watering and fertilizing.

Therefore, the first thing a farmer sees in a tender little plant is potential.  He/She may then have to place the plant in the most appropriate place or transport it to the right place so that the plant can grow into a tree that can bear fruits.  A basic example is that of a mother who goes to the hospital to have a baby.  After the baby is born, it is not left in the hospital, rather the baby's family moves the baby home where it continues its growth and development.  Another famous example was Israel.  You may recall that Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, and his family, seventy souls in all, came to Egypt.  These seventy could be compared to a seed that later became a plant, that is, a multitude of people.  However, this plant needed to be transported and planted or replanted in its own land, that is, The Promised Land, where its further growth would not be hindered and where it could become what it was capable of becoming thus fulfilling its potential of being an example to the nations of the world..

In the same way, after the new birth, every newly born-again child of God can be compared to a tender plant.  We must realize that not everyone who hears the Word of God gets born again.  However, the new birth is just the beginning and not the end.  Before every child of God are potentials to fulfill, territories to conquer, spiritual battles to fight and win, souls to bring to the kingdom, people of God to edify and crowns to win.

Therefore, after the new birth starts the process of growth.  A Christian cannot truly fulfill his/her potentials until and unless he/she grows into spiritual maturity.  The goal of every born-again Christian can be found in Ephesians 4 verses 13 and 14, 'Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting....'

A Christian should grow to the point of being able, by God's grace, to totally shake off the ashes of the fall and be adorned in the beauty of holiness.  This is why Isaiah 61 verses 1, 2 and 3 state, ''The Spirit.......................................To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.''

Therefore, the One who does the planting or replanting is God the Holy Spirit as we put our hand in His hand.  He leads us to where we should be, how we should live, what we should be doing and into what God is doing so that we can become what we are capable of becoming in Him.  The Spirit uses the Word of God, the Cross of Christ and the blood of Jesus to accomplish these things.  When does He do it?  It is only when we submit to His will and His leading at all times.  A sound relationship with the Holy Spirit then is important for every child of God in the following ways:
- The need to be conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our spirit.
- The need to have a practical knowledge of the work of the Holy Spirit.
- The need to know the voice of the Holy Spirit.
- The need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
- The need to be led by the Holy Spirit.
- The need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
- The need not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
- The need not to quench the Holy Spirit.

The frightening thing is that until and unless we give heed to these things, we may never fulfill His purposes for our lives.  The Christian spiritual highway is filled with the ashes of truncated potentials.