Galatians 6:9 says, And let us not grow weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
When you’re trying to grow a vegetable garden you have to sow a lot of seed, you have to protect those seeds until they can germinate, then you have to constantly pull weeds, and water (but not too much). Your hands have to ache. Your face has to sweat. And then you have to wait, and wait, and then wait some more.
There’s no other way to grow a garden— but make no mistake— ripe tomatoes don’t hang on vines because of anything the gardener does.
You can only sow. You can’t make the plant bear fruit. The field is tilled and left to grace.
The same is true in our relationships, our jobs, and our church. We are to sow the Word of God daily. We pull weeds as we confess our sin. We have to water relationships with works of love and kindness. And, more than anything, we have to wait. We have to till the field, and then trust the fruitful harvest to God alone.
And Paul tells us, don’t grow weary. Don’t give up. Even though you can’t make fruit grow, you shouldn’t stop sowing seed. Don’t stop reading the Word. Don’t stop praying. Don’t stop treating others as Christ has treated you. When you feel like you can’t wait any longer, wait some more.
And there’s a promise— not that the harvest will be plentiful— but that there will be a harvest. You don’t know what kind, or how large— but you will reap if you don’t faint. You will see the fruit of your toil in the Lord.
So church, let’s keep pulling weeds. Let’s daily sow the Word into our lives. Let’s till the field, and then leave it to the grace of God.
Let’s go to God now and confess our sins.
CONFESSION
Almighty Father,
We come to you now and confess our weakness. We are beset with human weaknesses like the need for sleep and the ache of hunger. But we are also beset by the weaknesses of our sin.
Apart from your grace, our hearts do not desire to read your Word daily. We get tired of confessing sin and wish that our sinful temptations would just give up. We’ve grown weary in our fight with the world, the flesh, and Satan.
Our eyes have grown heavy as we vigilantly watch over our children. Our patience has grown short as we’ve tried to follow Jesus at work. Our hearts are heavy as we continually offer up prayers that we fear go answered.
O patient Father, forgive our weariness. Remember us in your mercy. In your grace, renew our hearts, lift up our drooping hands. Help us to wait on the harvest of peace and righteousness that only you and your grace in Christ can bring.
Father, we come to you now to confess our individual sins. Receive our prayers.
We offer these prayers in the name of Jesus, who died in our place, and was raised for our justification, Amen.
Please rise for the assurance of pardon.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:16-17
The good news of the gospel is that those who confess their sin and come to Jesus by faith are forgiven of their sin and given eternal life. Therefore, if you are connected to Jesus by faith, then in Christ, your sin is forgiven.