“First plant your fields; then build your barn”
Proverbs 26:27
Many people think they’ll make it in life once they get something. A car. A house. The promotion, advancement or investment. Once they get it they’ll be on easy street & everyone will applaud their initiative & success. Problem is, it seldom, if ever, works out that way. Many folk will spend their whole lives looking for their breakthrough rather than simply living a selfless life and receiving a breakthrough.
Today’s verse helps us sort out our lives. It reminds us to do first things first. A farmer needs to plant first then build his barn. If he’s busy building the barn when he’s meant to be planting there’s going to be nothing for the barn at harvest time. Wisdom dictates that he plant first then build while the crop is growing. Get it wrong and everything will be wasted & lost.
Selfish ambition causes our lives to get out of order. Luke 9:25 says it’s even possible for us to gain the whole world through ambitious efforts and end up destroying ourselves… leaving empty barns. We’ve got to do first things first. We need to discipline ourselves to plant, then build. Planting is done by humbly valuing others above ourselves. By putting others interests above our own. By thinking of others as Christ did. [Philippians 2:3-5]
This week, let’s learn how to plant then build. If we’ve been guilty of selfish ambition & self-destruction let’s renounce it & repent from it now. Then we can start planting. Let’s begin by looking to the needs of others [Philippians 2:21] and the good of others [1 Corinthians 10:24]. As we plant this way we can build towards our future. Our fields can flourish, our barns can be built & filled and God will be glorified.
