By the time you read this letter we will be well into 2010. At the end of last year I watched a news report where the topic was ‘What do you hope to get out of 2010?’ I found the whole tenor of the report irritating and very consumeristic in its outlook. We hear stories of investment bankers continuing to receive generous bonuses despite being instrumental in the near collapse of the world’s banking systems (I am not saying that they were totally to blame). It is fair to say that many of us had it too good for too long and now it is payback time.

What do you hope to put into 2010? There is most certainly a counterbalance in life. The scriptures speak a lot about this in terms of sowing and reaping. You put something in, you get something out! You put little in and you will get little in return. In a world that promotes the concept of maximum output from minimum input the lesson of reaping and sowing can be a hard one.

Yet the Biblical metaphor of sowing and reaping isn’t quite as simple as we might like. The endeavour of reaping and sowing is a spiritual work of grace in a person’s life. In the Parable of the sower, Jesus likens the human heart as four different types of soil: some people are more receptive than others, when it comes to the gospel. In the spiritual realm, the gospel message might be stolen by God’s enemy; or extinguished through anxiety or even strangled by worldliness [Mk 4:1-20]. In other words, many people might respond to the good seed of gospel hope but it is a work of God’s grace and the Holy Spirit whether gospel of Christ takes root in someone’s heart. How deep do the roots of the gospel extend within your heart? What kind of harvest is it reaping?

The apostle Paul has more to say on the subject. His question is: Where do you sow and invest your efforts? If we sow in the wrong places it will be destructive. If we sow in the right place, it builds us up in Christ. Paul writes ‘The one who sows to please his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life’ [Gal 5: 8]. The friendships we forge, the money we spend, the priorities we set and the work that we engage in are undergirded by choices that we make. If we sow in the wrong places to satisfy our fallen nature, it will have a negative impact upon ourselves and others. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father will weaken and wither. When we invest time with Christ, learning from his word, speaking and listening in prayer and serving him, then the harvest that awaits us is beyond measure and will last forever.

May you know a deepening relationship with Lord,
Your minister and friend,
Andrew