“God Makes the Tree”
Spring arrives, the flowers open, the school year comes to a close, and again many people leave our congregation, some for the summer and some for good. As the staff evaluate past programs and plan the next ones, ministry at ECC is still best described as “receiving, equipping, and sending.” It seems that about this time every year, the “sending” part really kicks in. It can be exciting to some degree, sometimes discouraging, but it’s who we are and is possibly our major contribution to the kingdom of God.
In Matthew 13:31-35, Jesus tells the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast. Neither the seed nor the yeast grows immediately; so it can be with the word of God. We don’t always see the results. God is the one who takes care of the growth. We don’t do anything to make a seed into a tree–a watered seed just becomes a tree. The work we do is like the seed and yeast—it may seem tiny and insignificant, but we have to trust that God will expand his kingdom by the dropping of those tiny seeds. This is what we do day after day, and God will multiply His kingdom.
