The Word of God Is Living and Powerful: Sow It
- Jack Selcher
- Sep 19
- 2 min read
My grandson and I killed about 2,000 of them in 2022. No, not minutes playing video games—spotted lanternflies.
They were first discovered in the USA in 2014 in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Scientists think their eggs (the original “seeds”) were on some object imported from Asia.
By the end of 2022, lanternfly infestations had spread to forty-five counties in Pennsylvania and many other states.1 The lanternfly’s territorial expansion illustrates that God designed all life forms to reproduce after their kind.
How Christians reproduce after their kind is unique. Members of other religions can add followers directly to their ranks by convincing them to join.
Christians cannot. Christians are born again of the Spirit of God (John 3:6). It is supernatural.
Christianity cannot grow by human invitation alone. It is a divine-human cooperative effort. Christians invite others to follow Jesus, but God alone gives those others the desire to do so (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Because of how Christianity grows, Christians must sow God’s word to produce the next generation of believers in Jesus. Jesus is the original Seed (Galatians 3:19) and Sower (Matthew 13:37).
The seed is the word of God. “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23 NIV). That living and enduring word creates spiritual life and remains in believers (1 John 3:9).
Jesus brought the original seed of the gospel (God’s word) to earth. He subsequently uses believers in the sowing process as they spread to others the same imperishable seed that gave them life (1 Peter 1:23).
Their loving words and actions provide favorable environmental conditions to prepare the spiritual soil of non-Christians. When they sow the seed, some of it sprouts and grows in people’s hearts, but they do not know how (Mark 4:27).
They plant seeds. They water them. But God makes them grow (1 Corinthians 3:6).
God uses believers and their resources to spread His life in this world (2 Corinthians 9:10). They die to their self-centered priorities to do it.
Thereby, they follow Jesus’ example. “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:24-25 NIV).
The seed finds its purpose by losing its identity to produce something bigger, grander, and greater. That bigger, grander, and greater something eventually produces more seeds to continue the process. Believers are born to sow. What is your takeaway? See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.
God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 6,090 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 15,150 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting.
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