Spiritual seed
by Tatiana Overduin
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Whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop (1 Corinthians 9:10b).
Read 1 Corinthians 9:1–15
Today’s reading echoes the previous texts for this week: encouragement to have faith in the freedom that Christ offers us, the call to serve others and, in yesterday’s reading, the reminder of humility to consider others better than ourselves.
I enjoy having a lovely garden, and really I like the Edna Walling approach: wild and rambling. Some areas of my garden are neat and tidy, yet other areas remain randomly interspersed with herbs and vegetables among the flowers. I’m very interested in companion planting – plants that complement other plants, like planting garlic bulbs under roses. I have a curious interest in herbs for tea, medicine, and textile dyeing.
One area of gardening I’m not very good at is growing plants from seed. Cuttings? Sure, but seeds often fail me. One Scripture verse that has meant much to me is Luke 13:19, ‘Faith is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches’.
Now, of course, today’s devotion is not about growing actual trees or vegetables, herbs or flowers. It’s about God’s spiritual garden of faith, and we can read many analogies and parables in the Bible about this topic. In today’s reading, St Paul wants to see the fruit of the Corinthian believers and share in the harvest of their faith. We read earlier in 1 Corinthians, where he refers to his part of the spiritual gardening process, and we learn when God takes over. ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth’ (1 Corinthians 3:6,7). Later, in Galatians 5:22,23, Paul seeks to witness and experience the fruit of the Spirit at work among them.
We, too, are called, together with St Paul, to be ‘part of the spiritual seed-sowing process’ through our faith, testimony and witness. This seed is different, though: ‘for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God’ (1 Peter 1:23). Will you join me in some gardening?
Holy God, creator of all things in heaven and on earth, help us to become better gardeners, sowing spiritual seed in your garden of love. We pray that we can draw on your word of truth to share your message of hope with others. May we continually seek to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and work at cultivating your garden by sowing the seed of your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Tatiana is married to Jim, and they live in Largs North, a seaside location in Adelaide. They have two adult children and six grandchildren, who are a wonderful blessing to them both. Tatiana teaches full-time as an English, history and religion teacher; she gained a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Australian Lutheran College in 1996, and in her spare time, she enjoys knitting, gardening, singing for church, writing and swimming. Her home congregation is Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide.
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