Sowing and Watering
by Grace Bull
It has always been a great frustration to me that I am so poor at sharing the gospel. I can be friendly with people and I see opportunities frequently, but as soon as I try to share the gospel, I seem to lose the power of coherent speech.
On the other hand, if I am teaching in a Christian context, I am usually fluent and sometimes even feel inspired by the Holy Spirit while I’m speaking. Nevertheless, I often feel a failure for not being able to share the gospel one to one. So, I was encouraged by today’s verse. The apostle Paul says to the Christians in Corinth that, “I planted, Apollos watered but it was God who caused the growth to happen.”
Paul was a great evangelist. Apollos watered what Paul had already planted. Did that make Apollos a failure because he wasn’t planting? Not at all. Apollos was doing a job that was just as important. And actually, it’s God who causes the gospel to take root and grow in people’s lives. He certainly uses us as His helpers, but He is the one who brings people to life spiritually, not us.
I’ve come to see that God has probably gifted me in watering the seed of the gospel, rather than planting it, and especially by praying for those who don’t yet know Jesus. God makes the seed grow and our prayers play a big part in that.
If, like me, you are often tempted to compare yourself unfavourably with others who have different gifts to yours, I want to encourage you to stop doing that. Instead, I would encourage you to think today about what you do well and what you enjoy doing for the Lord. That is likely to be the area where your own gifts lie.
Don’t dismiss your gifts as less valuable than others. Your gifts are equally important and equally valuable. Remember that it is God who makes things grow, and He gave you the gifts He did for a reason! He wants to use you to make His kingdom grow.
Grace Bull is a member of the Ellel Ministries team, working in course development and the support of Ellel centres worldwide, having previously been a full-time GP (family doctor) for 15 years. Her passion is relationship with God and doing anything that will help other people to find that close relationship too.
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