Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God… Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:11-12, 17
Heavenly Father, once again you’ve given us a magnificent spring. I absolutely love this time of year in middle Tennessee. You kiss the morning and evening each day with a haze-less sky and refreshing cool. The browns and grey’s of winter step aside for the kaleidoscopic colors and aromatic wonder of a brand new season.
As tiny buds segue into full leaf and bloom, I’m reminded of your covenant faithfulness. The cycle of seedtime and harvest will continue until the completed harvest of your pan-national family and the emergence of the ultimate Garden City—the New Jerusalem. Oh hasten that Day, Father, hasten the Day of the sneeze-less, allergy-less new heaven and new earth!
We praise you for including us, your people, in the whole redeeming and greening process. You’ve not only promised to turn the barrenness and fallowness of our lives into a “well-watered garden” (Jeremiah 3:12; Isaiah 59:11), you’ve also promised to use us as a means of making all things new—beautiful, lush and fruitful. What a privilege. What a responsibility.
Gardening is hard work, Father—weeds, pests, drought… but the gospel is our surety. You’ve planted and raised the perfect seed, Jesus, as the firstfruits of the final harvest. There’s no possibility crop failure. Some of us plant, some of us water, but only you cause things to grow (1 Corinthians 3:6), and you are causing things to grow and you will continue to do so. Indeed, “all over the world this gospel is producing fruit and growing” (Colossians 1:6). We praise you for the indescribable gift of Jesus.
Oh Father, make us and our church families gardens of grace and righteousness, for your glory and the benefit of our communities, so very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ fruitful and faithful name.