Can't Grow A Crop In The Bag

A Shepherd’s View

This is one of my favorite sayings — You can’t grow a crop in the bag. It is an absolute truth. If you were to go over to Hibbs Garden Center, Lowes or Home Depot you would find their seed rack filled with all sorts of vegetable and flower packets. You could stand there day after day and watch the display of seed packets…waiting for the flowers to bloom and the vegetables to produce fruit. But nothing will happen.

At the end of each harvest season I would take account of each of the varieties of seed I had planted back in the spring. How well they yielded. How they stood the test of wind and rain. How easy or difficult they were to harvest. There were dozens of bits of information I would collect on each variety. From that information, I would place the next years seed order in the early winter well before I actually needed the seed.

I would go to agronomy meetings put on by the different seed suppliers to hear of new varieties and to get a detailed report on the old ones and how they fared in other places. All the information would be collected and the order placed. It usually arrived at our farm sometime in February. A lot of times there was snow still on the ground and it was always cold. It was still months before planting season. The seed was always stored in a safe place away from the weather and rodents. It was a valuable and precious commodity. Always expensive, so great care was taken to ensure its safety.

Here’s the point I want to make today. While that seed set on pallets in the shed or those vegetables were on the shelf at the garden center…nothing grew. It had to be taken from the bag and placed in the ground. Period! No other way!

There is another truth that flows from this same illustration— If you wait for a perfect day to plant, it will never happen. It’s too cold. It’s too hot. It’s too windy. It’s too wet. It’s too dry. It’s too cloudy. Yes there are times when this is true, but I know too many people that never get anything done or plant the seed God has given because it’s always “too” something. Listen to the Preacher in Ecclesiastes —

The New King James Version Chapter 11

Ecclesiastes 11:4

4 He who observes the wind will not sow,

And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

Meaning if you’re waiting for the perfect time to use you talents, it’s probably not going to happen. They’ll sit in the bag and there will be no crop. Jesus used this parable to illustrate—

The New King James Version Chapter 25

14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The moral of the story is simple— take the seed out of the bag and plant it.

Don’t give me the age excuse or the “my mind and body is so bad excuse”. It just won’t fly or grow. I have witnessed people on their death beds still sowing seed. Still planting. Remember what Jesus said about the mustard seed?

The New King James Version Chapter 4

30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

I hope this encourages you to take a look at your seed supply today. No matter how small, take it out of the bag and put it in the ground…God will give the increase.