Have you ever looked at an area of your life where you weren’t seeing much growth and thought, What’s wrong? Why isn’t anything happening? Maybe you’ve prayed about the same thing for years. Maybe you’ve tried to become more patient, more consistent, more loving or more disciplined. Eventually it’s easy to think, Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe I need God to give me something I don’t have.

Jesus tells a story in Mark 4 that challenges that thinking. A farmer goes out and scatters seed. Some falls on the path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns and some on good soil. The results are dramatically different. Some seed never grows. Some starts growing but doesn’t last. Some grows but gets choked. And some produces thirty, sixty and even a hundred times what was planted.

But notice what never changes. The seed. Same farmer. Same seed. Different ground. Jesus even tells us exactly what the seed represents: “The farmer sows the word.” Then Peter takes that idea even further. He says we have been born again through the “living and enduring word of God.” God has already planted something powerful in us. So, stop trying to get what you already have. Stop waiting for God to finally put potential in you. His Word is alive. His Spirit lives in you. You don’t have to manufacture the fruit, you create the conditions and The Holy Spirit produces that fruit.

Maybe the problem isn’t that you need better seed, maybe the ground just needs some work. A farmer doesn’t look at a field that needs plowing, weeding or cultivating and declare, “This is bad ground.” He recognizes its potential and gets to work. God sees the potential in you too.

There may be some hard places that need softening. Some buried things that need uncovering. Some weeds that need pulling. That’s dirty work.

Sometimes the difference between the fruit you have today and the fruit you want tomorrow is what you’re willing to let God work on today.