It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages.

What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. 

1 Corinthians 3:7-9 (MSG)

We all drop seeds wherever we go. They may be good seeds of faith, as we show people who Jesus is by our love. They can lead people to God’s own heart, when it’s His heart that they see in our own. Or we can drop seeds of another kind—the snaggly weeds of negativity, fear, anger, blame, and dishonesty. They choke out all that is good, and there’s nothing worth watering, nothing worth growing. Sometimes we plant the good seeds of faith, but then we stomp all over them by the way we live. Our words and actions tell others we follow ourselves, not Jesus. When no good seeds are being planted, when our life doesn’t line up with God’s heart, we aren’t “God’s field” at all.

We all have a big role to play in this work of heaven: to point people to Jesus. But we aren’t responsible for whether or not people turn their hearts toward Jesus, or turn and run the other way. That’s up to God! Only He can open the minds, prepare the hearts, and transform lives by His power. Only He can take what has been lovingly planted and watered and make it grow. Only God can change eternity! When we consistently scatter seeds of love, hope, grace, kindness, and compassion every day no matter where we are, it will inevitably impact the lives and the forevers of countless others. Only God can make things grow, but what a privilege to be called to scatter the seeds that lead to LIFE! 

What you plant matters. Every day you have the opportunity to draw people in with love and kindness, hope and compassion. Or you can push them away by living for your own purposes and being your only priority. Be intentional about your heart, your words, and your actions, because people are watching how you live. And they will always pay more attention to how you live than to what you say. So live in such a way that makes people want a heart like yours. Then point them to the God you are serving—the only One who makes hearts and heaven grow! You are loved!

People will figure out what we really believe by what we actually do.

~Bob Goff