The Elderly Farmer

I once heard the story of an elderly farmer who was known in his small community as the town grump. He was incessantly negative, nasty, and noncompliant to most everyone he met. For
years, area pastors were encouraged to visit and talk with him. One by one they went, but they were unable to change him. Imagine then, the surprise when word got out that this 90 year old farmer had prayed the sinner’s prayer, asked Jesus into his heart, and was now a changed man. How did the gospel finally penetrate his heart? Part of the answer had to do with the farmer’s seed salesman of the past forty years, who for several decades had patiently and methodically cultivated an intentional relationship with the farmer. The cultivating yielded an eternal crop. For me, the story raises a question: With whom is God more pleased: this seed salesman or Billy Graham? It’s clear that God is equally pleased with both of them. As a believer, you are the seed salesperson. You’ve been given a territory that is uniquely yours to “do good works, which God prepared in advance for [you] to do” (Ephesians 2:10). As you travel the streets and roads of your assigned area, your initial job is to simply plant the seed. Scripture says that as you’re faithful in planting the seed, others then come along to water it. Ultimately God himself will make it grow (see 1 Corinthians 3:6).