Some
things are just disappointing. Remember
your high school yearbook? In your
football uniform, you thought you were a superstar, but after graduation you
realized you were a shooting star. Birthday
parties are disappointing, too. Now that
you’re a grownup you might have a get-together at a restaurant with friends,
but the gifts aren’t as exciting, the decorations aren’t as thrilling, and the
only clown who shows up is the friend who passes YOU the check. As a full-grown adult, roller coasters are
never as good as your anticipation of them, either. You’ll be standing in line for a ride,
expecting to finish with a thrill on your face and wind in your hair—but in
reality, you’ll end up with a green face and something else in your hair.
Jesus knew that the life of discipleship could be filled with
disappointments. At the beginning of his
ministry, he chose his twelve disciples, gave them a lesson in casting out
demons, and taught them that they were his new family if they did God’s will
(Mark 3). He told them to shine like a
lamp on a stand (4:21-22), but he also knew that with the darkness around them,
they could be easily disillusioned. So
he told them a story to help them understand the let-down when witnessing and
ministry didn’t meet their expectations:
“Listen! A farmer
went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some of the
seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on
shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil
was shallow. But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t
have deep roots, it died. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked
out the tender plants so they produced no grain (Mark 4:3-7 NIV).
Those
who have been Christians for a long time have heard countless sermons about the
disappointing scenarios in this story.
Perhaps you’ve also been discouraged when you tried to share your faith
with someone, but you felt like Satan was snatching that message away from
them. Or were upset by someone who heard
what you said, but spiritually that person didn’t seem to go very deep. Or maybe you got frustrated when you saw a
Christian you were mentoring, who allowed the cares of life to strangle out the
new growth that had begun. Jesus
understood this kind of disappointment, and felt the same way about his
disciples sometimes. In fact, in verse
13, Jesus asks them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable,
how will you understand all the other parables?” His frustration is apparent, but his ultimate
message is one of hope.
Jesus
says in verse 8, “Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted,
grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as
much as had been planted!” The
message of this parable is, “I know that if you try really hard to be the
witnesses I’ve asked you to be, you’re going to be frustrated and
disappointed. Trust me—most people don’t
listen to me, either. But there will be
a percentage who will listen to you, and the kingdom will grow in them.” The fruit they bear will be amazing. My fiancée, Christina, tells the story of the
time she planted two or three cucumber plants in her garden, and it yielded
over two hundred cucumbers. They had
more than they could eat, more than they could give away, and more than they
could turn into pickles. The kingdom of
heaven is like that—all you’ve got to do is plant the seed.
Now,
sometimes you get discouraged because you can’t see anything growing. You’re trusting God and doing what you should
and telling people about Jesus—but you just can’t see anything happening. Don’t be disappointed. Randy Reynolds tells this story:
There
was a young woman who took great pride in the growth and care of the flowers in
her flower garden. She had been raised by her grandmother who taught her to
love and care for flowers as she herself had done. So, like her grandmother,
her flower garden was second to none.
One day while looking through a flower catalogue she often ordered from,
a picture of a plant immediately caught her eye. She had never seen blooms on a
flower like that before. “I have to have it,” she said to herself, and she
immediately ordered it. When it arrived,
she already had a place prepared to plant it. She planted it at the base of a
stone wall at the back of her yard. It grew vigorously, with beautiful green
leaves all over it, but there were no blooms. Day after day she continued to
cultivate it, water it, feed it, and she even talked to it attempting to coax it
to bloom. But, it was to no avail. One morning weeks later, as she stood before
the vine, she contemplated how disappointed she was that her plant had not
bloomed. She was giving considerable thought to cutting it down and planting
something else in its place. It was at
this point that her invalid neighbor, whose lot joined hers, called over to
her. “Thank you so much! You can’t imagine how much I have enjoyed the blooms
of that vine you planted.” The young woman walked through the gate into her
neighbor’s yard, and sure enough, she saw that on the other side of the wall
the vine was filled with blooms. There
were indeed the most beautiful blooms she had ever seen. The vine had crept
through the crevices and it had not flowered on her side of the fence, it had
flowered luxuriantly on the other side. Just
because you cannot see the good result of your labour does not mean that it
bore no fruit.[i]
Sometimes all you can see is
dirt—but faith, like potatoes, grows beneath the surface. Sometimes all you can see are vines and no
flowers—but blossoms bloom on the other side of the wall. Sometimes you can’t see any fruit
anywhere—but God is doing work that you can’t see. Don’t write people off, just because you
can’t see the flowers or fruit. Trust
God and continue the work. “So let’s not get tired of doing what is
good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t
give up (Galatians 6:9 NLT).”
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