Planting the Seed

Devotions: Seeds to Grow Faith

I still have a copy of the first sermon I ever preached. Imagine trying to cram the entire gospel message and journey of faith into a fifteen minute talk. I did that because I thought I was supposed to. I knew nothing about the crafting of a message or the necessary research, and even less about the dynamics of preaching to people of different ages and developmental stages of faith.

The only reason the congregation tolerated my bumbling presentation was it was expected of them to put up with the kids leading one service a year.

Expectations and assumptions can be just as detrimental to the process of writing devotions.

Think about it. I’m already over 100 words and I haven’t made the point I want to make in this article. That would be half of the typically allotted words for most devotional publications.

There are many who debate the Twitter mentality of such limitations. Can anything good thing come in such a small package?

What are the advantages to a five minute—or less—devotion?

Truth be told: even in our time crunched culture, there’s a least time to plant a seed.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6, NIV)

Without the planting there will be no growth, no fruit, no harvest.

We’re living in a cut to the chase climate. People want sound bites and essentials.
So what are the essentials of a good devotion?

A scripture verse linked to a relatable story, finished with an application, and sealed with a prayerful thought. These are ingredients that grow great faith.

And what can be done with a seed?

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20b, NIV)

What seeds will you plant today?