A Bountiful Harvest Requires Spiritual Discipline

Photo by Christopher Luther on Unsplash

Behold, a sower went out to sow … But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. -- Matthew 13:3,8 (NJKV)

When it comes to sprinkles on ice cream and seeds planted in the ground, my grandsons, ages five and two, live by the motto "if a little is good, more must be better." Their enthusiastic help with planting the garden required (and adding sprinkles to ice cream) requires highly focused supervision.

While science has yet to convincingly disprove the assumption about more sprinkles on ice cream, every gardener knows there is a limit to how many seeds can be sown into the ground if we want a bountiful harvest.

Too many seeds germinating in too small a space will force plants to compete for the resources they need: sunlight, water, and nutrients in the soil. The result will be weak, spindly plants that are unable to thrive or produce the harvest.

Even beyond the garden, we humans are still prone to the more-is-better mentality:

* Including in our study of God’s Word.

* If one Bible study is good, three must be better.

* If one daily devotion is good, five must be even better.

* If one podcast, book … well, you get the picture.

But like the overcrowded seeds, our spiritual learning can become overcrowded too. The consumption of too much content—even when it’s good content—denies each seed planted the proper time and resources to generate deep roots that will bear the storms of life and bear the fruit of a life steeped in rich godly wisdom.

Sometimes the discipline we need is the spiritual discipline to slow down. Sometimes less really is more.

In a time when we have instant access to almost any Bible study, reference source, commentary, podcast, and daily verses delivered to our inboxes, it can be tempting to fall into the if-a-little-is-good-more-is-better thinking.

But no matter how fertile the soil, a field can only nurture so many seeds at a time. A bountiful harvest is a farmer’s joy, but he understands he must discipline himself to plant just the right for the resources he possesses.

The good news is that a field can grow more than one crop when properly timed and spaced. And often what has been grown in this field the season before prepares the soil for what is to be planted next.

The bountiful harvest we seek requires the spiritual discipline to sow seeds of learning with intention. When we commit ourselves to nurturing a few—or even one—thing in a season, we give it what the attention it needs so that its roots grow deep and strong.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Have you ever considered spiritual discipline as a way of doing less to grow more?

2. What parallels do you see between sowing seeds in good soil and sowing God’s Word in your heart?

3. Is there a specific area, theme, or topic that God is inviting you to study with Him deeply? What might you need to let go of to do this?