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Plant Seeds for Holiness

The fall time of the year is harvest time and, for many farmers, a time to plant seeds for a future harvest. A farmer prepares his fields, fertilizes, and cultivates. He spends long hours planning and working as well as pondering on the hazards and benefits of being a farmer. He works hard knowing full well the result of the harvest is dependent on forces outside himself. Everyone knows that farmers cannot cause the seeds to germinate, nor can they produce the right combination of rainfall, sunshine, and temperature needed to bring the harvest in. Farmers are dependent on God. That is a fact that cannot be changed.

However, diligent farmers know that they must do their part if they are going to enjoy a harvest good enough to pay the bills and feed those in this world. In a sense, farmers are in a partnership with God, receiving the benefits only after fulfilling their responsibility.

Deuteronomy 28 holds blessings for the people in a nation that Biblically fears the Lord as well as curses for those who willfully live as they please. “The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD will establish you as His holy people…, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in His ways... The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees…, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you…” (Deuteronomy 28:8-10, 12, 15)

Let the Holy Spirit place this truth within your spiritual heart, “establish you as His Holy people.” There is a Biblical truth that must be grasped, “Holiness is a joint venture with God.” (Jim Bridges) No one can enjoy the benefits of living a holy life without the enabling of God, or without fulfilling their responsibilities. Just as diligent farmers prepare for a future harvest, Christians must prepare Biblically for the harvest that is promised in having Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord.

Just as farmers must break the hard ground to plant seeds for the harvest, the Holy Sprit must break the spiritual heart with the written Word of God, “Make every effort… to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

It takes research, hard work and obedience to the law of nature for farmers to reap a harvest. Farmers must learn from others who know about farming. You must learn from those within whom the Lord is establishing a life of holiness if you are going to enjoy the harvest that is promised in pursuing holiness. There are Christians who are diligent, studying the laws and precepts of God’s Word. There are Christians whom the Lord is doing a work in and through.

Just as farmers seek to learn new and better ways to plant seed, fertilize and cultivate for a harvest, you must seek to learn from God’s Word, Jesus said, “…the seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11)