The Upper Room Daily Devotional from The United Methodist Church of Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Tuesday, 7 November 2017 "Sowing Seeds" by Monica A. Andermann (New York) - 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
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DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2017
The saying holds true, “One sows
and another reaps.” (JOHN 4:37 (NRSV))
Miss Mildred, my former Sunday school teacher, has always held a special place in my heart. I have never forgotten her lessons or her powerful example of Christian faith. Recently, 25 years after I last saw her, we were lucky enough to reconnect. “I never knew if any of my students absorbed what I taught,” Miss Mildred commented after I told her how I had dedicated my life to Christ. “I remember students looking out the window and checking their watches, eager for dismissal time,” she joked. “But to speak to you and know that at least one of the seeds I planted took root is truly my reward.” Often we plant a seed of the gospel by our kind acts or counsel without ever knowing the end result. Like Miss Mildred, we may wonder if we were just wasting our time. After my discussion with her, I realized that we don’t always know what comes of our good deeds. We are called only to step out in faith and, following our Lord’s example, sow a seed. God will take it from there!
Miss Mildred, my former Sunday school teacher, has always held a special place in my heart. I have never forgotten her lessons or her powerful example of Christian faith. Recently, 25 years after I last saw her, we were lucky enough to reconnect. “I never knew if any of my students absorbed what I taught,” Miss Mildred commented after I told her how I had dedicated my life to Christ. “I remember students looking out the window and checking their watches, eager for dismissal time,” she joked. “But to speak to you and know that at least one of the seeds I planted took root is truly my reward.” Often we plant a seed of the gospel by our kind acts or counsel without ever knowing the end result. Like Miss Mildred, we may wonder if we were just wasting our time. After my discussion with her, I realized that we don’t always know what comes of our good deeds. We are called only to step out in faith and, following our Lord’s example, sow a seed. God will take it from there!
TODAY'S PRAYER:
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1 Corinthians 15:50 Let me say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God, nor can something that decays share in what does not decay. 51 Look, I will tell you a secret — not all of us will die! But we will all be changed! 52 It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed. 53 For this material which can decay must be clothed with imperishability, this which is mortal must be clothed with immortality. 54 When what decays puts on imperishability and what is mortal puts on immortality, then this passage in the Tanakh will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.[1 Corinthians 15:54 Isaiah 25:8]
55 “Death, where is your victory?
Death, where is your sting?”[1 Corinthians 15:55 Hosea 13:14]
56 The sting of death is sin; and sin draws its power from the Torah; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah!
58 So, my dear brothers, stand firm and immovable, always doing the Lord’s work as vigorously as you can, knowing that united with the Lord your efforts are not in vain.
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What seeds of faith can I sow today?
Sunday-school teachers
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Header Photo Credit: "Harvested Land," Beth Shumate. August 15, 2014. (link)
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