Home »
You are unique; for the Creator, who has designed and fashioned you, makes no replicas. And, He also has a plan and a purpose for your life, that comes to pass as you yield yourself to His will, to be led in a firm footing in the path of it, by the Holy Spirit. It is why the psalmist’s prayer becomes so relevant in your life and mine, though many years may have gone by ,Teach me to do Your will, for You are My God; And may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. [Psalm 143:10]
David’s life, that was sowed by him, to be according to the will of God, and not lived to please his own ambitions and desires, was what ultimately earned him the commendation of being a man after God’s own heart, from God Himself! And a life lifted up to reflect the glory and mighty power of God, that makes a person special, by the presence of God with him, is what the life of Moses teaches you. He became the towering leader that he was, solely because of the call and empowering of the God, the Great I AM, who is always present, always powerful and also always helpful.
And even today, He remains faithful to His word, to help you, by keeping His eye upon you to guide you, and by holding your right hand in a covenant relationship, to strengthen you. It is what was the experience of Isaac, in a time of famine and lack, that could have led him to the wrong place, only to miss out on the blessing of God. For, the promise of God, invariably comes with a procedure. And it required Isaac to stay in the place that he was, in spite of the famine, and also to sow in it, that he may receive the blessing of God that brought about a hundredfold increase, even in the unlikely circumstance. [Genesis 26:3,10,12]
With Isaac, as he received the word of God as the imperishable spiritual seed to plant it in his heart, it was then a physical sowing of seed in the famine struck land, as an act of faith, that he needed to do in order for the God of all possibilities to bring about the increase.
The glory of the Cross:
But with Lord Jesus, our Risen Savior and Lord, it was a sowing of something far higher and deeper. It was His own life that was sowed on the Cross of Calvary, as He, the sinless Lamb of God, laid down His own life in love, that you and I, and anyone who chooses to put their trust in Him may be saved.
And He knew, that it was so that God may be glorified through it all. ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit’, were His words of trust and hope, even in the painful agony that He endured on the Cross, life that was sown, for the redemption of sinful man, to bear fruit even today, in you and I being children of God through Christ, the Son of God. And the Father raised Him up on the third day, to give Him the Name above every other Name, and to be seated at His right Hand forever. It is how Paul in wondrous poetry sums up the glory of the Cross in his epistle to the Philippians. [Philippians 2:9]
Your life that is sown – it’s nature:
What Isaac sowed in faith, to reap a joyful harvest was seed that was physical. The manner in which you and I need to sow, when it is our own life that needs to be sown is described in God’s word, in the words of the apostle Peter, saying ,As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. [1 Peter 4:10] God has blessed you with a special gift, and He has done so in every one of His children. And as the Lord has illustrated in the parable of the talents, it is how you employ it for the glory of His Name, that displays a prosperous sowing of your life, in the arena that He has laid out for you. To hear Him say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’, would be the highest accolade that you can ever receive!
And your special gift could be in any area of functioning, for there is no secular and sacred divide with God. It could be the gift of teaching any subject, with fluency and clarity, that is in you. And there could also be hundreds of other teachers, but then, when you have been gifted by the Father to teach, you would be unique among all of them. And it is so, because you have been uniquely created by Him, with an uniquely special gifting, to be uniquely employed, that God may be glorified through it all. The end result always is the glory of God, when it comes to sowing your life, according to His will and purpose, rejecting in the course of it, the pattern of the world.
Life that is sown – the procedure:
If anyone speaks let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and dominion forever and ever Amen. [1 Peter 4:11] Thus is established, the foundation, and structure, of a life that is sowed, for the glory of God through Christ. The words of Christ, in His path to Calvary, where His life was sown, that the time had come for the Son of Man to be glorified, only go to reiterate the unchanging truth.
And, it is where the path of the child of God deviates from the one who is worldly and carnal in his thinking. For, to such a person, the natural gifting that a person is endowed with, is employed for one’s own enjoyment. Or it is used to make money, succeed financially, or to become popular in the eyes of other people. But, when you have experienced the Father’s love lavished upon you, to be called a child of God, the driving force is that God may be glorified in and through the employment of your special gift, or your life that is sown. And you can rest in the truth that goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.
As you seek God, and His Kingdom first, you will find that everything else that you need, will fall into it’s rightful place, without you having to run after it. In your financial need, big or small, God is glorified, in you seeking Him first. And you will experience then, that those who seek Him will lack no good thing. Above all there is a vital reason why glorifying God in all things needs to be the premise upon which your life is built. And Paul explains it well in his letter to the Romans.
All things for His glory:
It was the intended purpose of God, even in creation, For of Him, and through Him and to Him are all things to Him be glory forever, Amen. [Romans 11:35] You sow therefore, and you also reap, but it is not just about benefiting you, but primarily for the glory of God. It is fitting, for, all that you are, is truly because of His grace, is the truth that it acknowledges, even as the apostle Paul does in saying, ‘I am what I am by the grace of God; I do what I do by the grace of God; not I, but the grace of God working in me’. [1 Corinthians 15:10]
And, the process of sowing for the glory of God happens as you offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. It is your spiritual act of worship. [Romans 12:1] Your special gift needs to be employed for God’s glory through your body. And to think that because it is your body, and your life, the faculties of your physical body can be used in whatever manner you desire, is an understanding that will lead you sadly astray from the plans and purposes of God.
Your body – the temple of the Holy Spirit:
For, you have been bought with a price, and you are not your own. As a child of God, redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, your body now is the temple of the Holy Spirit. [1Corinthians 6:19] It is not to be abused therefore, by being used wrongly, and for purposes that do not come from God, but to be treated with care, and dignity. Sanctification that involves avoiding sexual immorality, is the expressed will of God, for every one of His children. [1 Thessalonians 4:3-5] And it is the one who does not have a relationship with Him, who ends up abusing his body with impunity, not knowing the intended purposes of God, for it. For, even a very mundane and regular activity such as eating, could then as the Bible clearly points out, could be for self indulgence, instead of God’s purpose, which is, in it being an avenue of strength to do what He needs you to do. [Ecclesiastes 10:17] For, an intake that enables a mere preservation of life, without having the strength to deliver, or to do your God given task, is not His thought either, concerning the quantity and nature of the food you eat.
Thus, you glorify God with your body, as you use it for the purpose that He has blessed you with. You will find then, that your hands lifted in worship in the gathering of saints, on a Sunday, are stretched out in your work, in service joyfully, for the rest of the week. For, in your body that is the temple of the Holy Spirit, there will be a spirit of continual worship, even as you do whatever you do heartily, as not unto men, but unto the Lord. [Colossians 3:23]
Not conformed, but transformed:
And for any needed change in that direction to happen in you, an exchange needs to take place, an exchange of thoughts, of God’s that are higher, for yours that are limited and constrained. And a renewing of your mind, through God’s word, is how it all takes place. It is how Paul goes on to describe being a living sacrifice, or in other words, sowing your life for the glory of God. It is to be then, as an outworking of it, be led to know and walk in God’s perfect will for you, that you may readily recognize and also promptly respond to it. [Romans 12:2]
Do not be conformed to the pattern of the world, but be transformed according to God’s word, is how he very simply puts it across, enabling you to visualize something akin to a metamorphosis, or a changing of a worm into a butterfly. Indeed you will no longer need to crawl through your life’s intimidating circumstances, but will with renewed strength, as you wait upon the Lord, soar over, or run through a mighty wall instead. Thus when it is a situation of lack that you are up against, your thoughts concerning it would be naturally gloomy and without hope. But, with a mind renewed by God’s word, as a result of the exchange, to receive what is superior, you will know and also experience what the Bible refers to in saying that, ‘those who seek the Lord will lack no good thing’.
The God-centered thinking:
In essence, it is thinking in line with the word of God that brings about a transformation in you, one that leads to serving God with your spiritual gift that is special and can be uniquely attributed to you. And the practical ground rules of it, or what needs to be your attitude, are also subsequently very clearly laid out, in the apostle’s words, For I say, through the grace given to me to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt with to each one a measure of faith. [Romans 12:3] In God’s kingdom, and His economy, it is by grace and through faith in His word, that all things come to you. And it is a humble attitude, one that is God focused, concentrating on His nature, and what He has done in you, for you and through you, that receives grace from God. He resists the proud, or the one whose focus remains on his own self, but gives grace to the humble. And thus it is that, with a sober, and not an inflated judgment of yourself, together with faith that is in you from God, in the measure that you need, you receive the spiritual power to carry out your spiritual responsibilities, which in this case, is to exercise your spiritual gift, in the service of others, and more importantly, for the glory of God.
And the overwhelming and unchanging truth is also that, when your thinking is not in the light of the scriptures, you are not thinking right; and therefore you will also not be doing what is right. For, you will be wondering how to manage in your troubling situation, instead of wondering how God is going to work in your life, so that you can confidently say, ‘It is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvelous in my eyes’!
The God who has already accomplished it all:
Isaac sowed in faith, to reap a hundredfold, the very same year, for the source of the blessed harvest, the One who caused the supernatural increase was the God who gives the seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. And as it happened in the life of Isaac in the natural, with the physical seed that he sowed, His word that comes to you, when it is your life that you are sowing, for the glory of God, will not return void, without accomplishing the purpose for which it is sent. The prophetic words of hope of the psalmist are, The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your loving kindness O Lord endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands, Amen. [Psalm 138:8]
And today in your life and mine, the words have been fulfilled through the victorious Cross of Calvary, where the Savior has indeed accomplished all that concerns us. Therefore, no matter what your situation is, whether it is lack or abundance that you are experiencing, you can do all things through Christ, the One who has already accomplished it all, who strengthens you.[Philippians 4:11-13] He is the One who causes the increase, and therefore you can sow, or water, the seed, that is your life, as a living sacrifice, to employ your special gifting, that God may be glorified. And you will be satisfied, fulfilled and blessed, no matter what your present circumstance may indicate or predict.
Your body – a living sacrifice:
May we bow at the Father’s throne therefore, and in view of His great mercies, present our bodies, a holy and living sacrifice, acceptable in His sight. May it be your spiritual service of worship, for He alone is the source and He alone is to be glorified. And, His grace is sufficient, to take you from where you are, to where He wants you to be. He will make you a display of His splendor, for His glory, in the sowing of your life, and your special gifting from Him.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
