[micah6v8]

Originally Posted by Igzy

Does money get wasted? Of course. Money gets wasted in any endeavor, secular or religious. But that's not an excuse not to still undertake the endeavor nor to categorically refuse to support similar endeavors. Your kids waste money. Does that mean you stop supporting them? I understand passing on organizations with terrible financial records, but using the existence of some as an excuse to support none seems ignoble.

Reminds me of Matthew 13

³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

In sowing, we would not want to waste our time and good seed if they were going to fall on rocky places/be dried up by the sun or choked by thorns. We all would like to be the one in verse 8 which yielded a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sowed. (Just like the boy who offered up five loaves and two fishes and God could feed five thousand with these).

Paul also noted that he planted and Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.

Even if we all planted and watered on good soil, we cannot expect fruitful results all the time. In farming, there could still be an unexpected flood which wipes away our fruit. Not everything goes to plan.

At the end of the day, given that divine sovereignty goes along with human responsibility, we all have to do our part to the best of our ability and if God is willing, the fruit will come.

I assume that doing our best means not deliberately sowing seeds on rocky places/where there are thorns. (But then again, perhaps it is not easy in real life to tell what are the rocky place/thorns.)