Have you ever tried speaking to someone about Christ but the result was not what you were hoping for? When it comes to salvation, it oftentimes takes several different situations and several different people speaking into someone’s life for them to come to Christ. But don’t let that discourage you!
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church he shares a terrific example of working together to save the lost, “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7 NLT) It doesn’t matter who leads a sinner into salvation, we all have an equal part to play and after all, it is the Holy Spirit who is working through us to reach that person anyway.
Paul shows here that the most important thing as believers in the Body of Christ is that we work together as vessels for the Holy Spirit to plant, water, and harvest seeds in people’s lives. If you witness to someone about Christ and they don’t decide at that moment to make Jesus their Lord, you may walk away from that situation upset, feeling like a failure, or wondering what you did wrong, but you aren’t a failure – you simply planted a seed.
You gave another minister something to build off of when they come across that man or woman and talk to them about Jesus. They may continue to build on that seed by watering it or they may be able to harvest it and lead that person into salvation. Either way, we are working together to bring the lost of this world into the Kingdom of God.
As Paul said, it isn’t important who does what, as long as people get saved and God gets the glory.
