Thoughts that seem important

Thoughts that seem important:
Sunday, June 18, we will hear one of Jesus’ parables about seeds and faith. He compares faith to a farmer casting seed on the ground, letting the seed grow with no effort on his or her part and then collecting the harvest.  As often is the case, this story is a beautiful illustration of our Lutheran understanding of faith development. Our faith is not something that we decide to have. Faith is not something that we have to prove to God or others. No, faith comes from the power of the Holy Spirit working in us through our hearing God’s wonderful Word. The word is the seed that is cast upon our lives and God through the Holy Spirit uses this seed to bring about the gift and fruit of faith.  
This has implications for our spiritual journey. First, faith as a gift of work of God, expresses itself when faith is ready to express itself. Our faith, that is our trusting of God, is something that will appear when it is ready to appear. It might appear in a hotel room while reading a Gideon Bible. It might appear while kneeling at an altar rail. Faith might appear when a sermon is heard. Faith might appear when a hymn is sung. Faith just shows up like a flower that sudden appears out of nowhere. Thus, we are patient with ourselves and keep ourselves immersed in God’s Word.
Our second implication for faith as gift and work of God is that it allows us to be patient with others. When we reap the harvest of faith and enjoy the blessings of peace, hope and courage that faith brings us, we want everyone to have it. We especially can long for friends and relatives to have this kind of faith. Yet this story teaches us that everyone is on their own faith journey and faith will appear when it is ready to appear. Just as we can’t make a plant grow, so we can’t make faith grow in others.  All we can do is cast the seed and respect each and everyone’s own unique relationship with God.  We are just casters of the seed. God does the growing.
Remember: Faith is a gift and work of God.     –Pastor Tart