Sowing Seeds of Kindness

Jesus demonstrated what it means to sow seeds of kindness everywhere he went. His criticisms were reserved for those who worked against kindness. But even those criticisms were intended to protect the vulnerable while persuading the powerful to be more kind.

There is a view of Scripture that is harsh and condemning, but this is not the view of Jesus. Jesus’ view is kind, gentle, and forgiving. There is a view of Christian faith that expects large numbers, that quantifies spirituality, that measures faith in material terms. But Jesus’ expectation is measured in spiritual terms. The growth Christ looks for is the spiritual growth of each soul. The expectation is that we, like Jesus, will spread seeds of kindness wherever we go, that we will tend to those seeds and nurture them, and that we will trust God with the results. If we believe everyone is made in the image of God (and most people do believe this in one form or another regardless of their religious associations), we can also believe that every person God has made is already on some sort of spiritual journey. Rather than thinking of people as primitive and misguided souls disconnected from any relationship to their Creator, we can instead relate to everyone as spiritual beings, united with their Creator and growing by grace. We are invited to emulate Christ in planting the proverbial seeds of kindness. 

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Excerpt from the manuscript of the sermon preached by 
Rev. Bill Lawson on July 16, 2023, at Briensburg UMC.

For the Complete Sermon: [ PDF | MP3 Audio | E-Book & Other Formats ]

Cover Image Photo by Larry Jacobsen. “Seed and the Sower.” Cheyenne Botanical Gardens. “A bronze statue of the Seed and the Sower – a Prairie woman – sowing seed in her garden.” Creative Commons License. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljguitar/1099799640/  10 July 2023.