As you know, we have been planting things in our house lately and enjoying the fruits of our labours. The chilli plants are abundantly providing chillies; we have been flavouring food with basil too! As a result of this, Paul’s comments in 1 Cor 3:8-9 (‘the one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building’) have seemed particularly relevant to us!
The image of the people of God as God’s planting has many biblical echoes (see Ex 15:17, Num 24:5-7, Amos 9:15, Is 61:3, for example.) The church in Corinth may well have had problems and needed correction in many areas, but Paul is confident in their growth (see 1 Cor 1:8-9, comparing with Phil 1:6), because He knows God is faithful. There will always be fallow times in fields, times when nothing seems to be growing, but we can be confident that God is always working, even when we cannot see what He is doing. Paul reminds the Galatians ‘let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (Gal 6:9) Patience and perseverance are required to see visible evidence of growth, but don’t give up – God’s not finished with us yet!