Watering Seeds

“So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” 1 Corinthians 3:7-8, NASB.

When I came to the Pacific Rim as a volunteer it was refreshing to me that the worker who guided our team was not just looking to tally numbers. He encouraged us to focus on being faithful. He reminded us that Christ has given us a calling to go and tell. This freed me up to think about making the Gospel message more relevant to the people I’d come to serve.

The LORD brought a recurring thought to my mind. He impressed me with the importance of planting and watering seeds. I started each day with the thought, “Can I plant a seed today? Is there a seed I can water? Can I water it again and again and again?”

One evening I was in a market place with a local believer who was acting as my translator. We had prayed all day to have opportunities to plant and water seeds, but not much had happened. People were friendly and curious about the Westerner in the market, but no significant conversations had opened up. Yet God heard our prayers.

We met a businessman in his early thirties. As we sat and talked with him he shared about having recently lost everything in a business deal that had gone bad. He talked about his family. In general he seemed to be seeking answers, and seemed open to talking with us about deeper things than “Where are you from?” or “How do you like my country?”

I had a witnessing tool that I was playing with as we talked. After a while he asked me about it. I told him that it reminded me of my faith and what my Savior had done for me. Like most people in the area, this man was Muslim. Unlike most people, he had attended a Catholic University, and felt like he had heard the story I was sharing before.

He shared that Muslims had rules they followed, and Catholics were the same with their 10 Commandments. I took that opportunity to ask him if he remembered any of these commandments from his time in college. He remembered a couple of commands – don’t steal and don’t lie. I then shared that I have stolen and lied before, and asked if he could relate. He assured me that he could definitely relate.

Keeping the rules doesn’t work, because we all mess up sooner or later. I shared that in my experience it wasn’t about rules, it was about relationship. At that point he started asking about my religion. I never answered him; instead, I told him that I followed Jesus. For me, it wasn’t about religion or a set of laws. We talked for about an hour.

I felt so privileged to have had the chance to explain what Jesus had done for me and for him. I see this conversation as a direct answer to my prayers throughout the day. My translator and I got to plant and water some seeds in this man’s life.

I’m still praying for that gentleman that the Holy Spirit will work in his life. He accepted a tract from us. I pray God will use that and other things to draw this man to Himself.

You may think that there is plenty of work to do at home, or that you will not see any fruit from your labor if you go overseas. That’s really not the point. We are called to be faithful and let God deal with bringing the fruit. The goal is for God to get the glory, and there is no place better to learn that than on the field. I pray that Christians in America will get off the couch and get out into what God is doing around the world. There are still seeds that need planting and watering!

Testimony of a volunteer serving in the Pacific Rim.

Pray that:

Volunteers to the Pacific Rim will be faithful to their call and bold in their witness.

The seeds planted in this businessman’s life will eventually lead to his salvation.

Volunteers will not become discouraged when doors seem shut to sharing about the main thing.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.