Prioritize your Seeds

The Bible is a complete book. It does not only address the spiritual aspect of a man’s life, it also addresses the physical needs of man which includes finances. One of the common saying in the Bible is ‘you reap what you sow’. This law is ever constant. It does not have to do with whether you are a Christian or not, it operates with the natural law of sowing and reaping. Only 4% (minority) understands this.

There are over 2000 references to money in the word of God. This makes the Bible a truly amazing book. The bible is also a book of consequences especially as it relates to the finances. Managing finances either well or poorly has significant implications. One thing that must be made clear is our God is God of consequences. When we honour his word, we are rest assured of his blessings. On the contrast, when we violate his word, we can also be assured of negative consequences. Despite global recession, those who heed God’s warnings and live by the truths found in the word of God can actually prosper in uncertain times. In the same vein, those who do not will suffer the consequences of their ignorance or disobedience to these principles.

One of the ways to prosper amidst scarcity is to sow our seed and before you can sow any seed, you must have prioritized your goals for that seed. All of us are aware that most of the time; the immediate needs always demand that you eat the seed instead of sowing. My challenge to every readers of this article is to never eat the seeds. They are your lifeline and insurance for your future. A seed eaten today cannot multiply tomorrow.

Challenges will come but make a decision that seeds are not to be touched. Prioritize your goals. With priority, your seeds will become your security and insurance for tomorrow. Let me relate how I came across this fact:

In my childhood years while staying with my grandfather, I learnt a lot from him. It will interest you to know that he was a diligent farmer. I followed him to farm only on weekends and holidays because he placed a lot of premium on education.

Whenever it was harvest time, I noticed one attitude with him. He would examine all the produce of the farm and select the biggest ones if it was yams and if it was corn, he would carefully select the most healthy ones right before we do anything with the rest. I was always amazed. Sometimes, I would ask him if we did not deserve to eat the best of this produce. He will answer that we deserved it but we should use what we deserve as a security against our future. If we eat all we deserve now, that is instant gratification. If we delay our gratification a little, we can have something better in the nearest future.

As a child, I did not fully grasp the full meaning of this habit until later in life. I now understand better that seeds are not to be eaten. They are to be sown. A seed sown is multiplied to give a harvest. If you have been eaten all your harvests, you are not having any security for the future. If you eat all that comes your way, you won’t have anything to harvest in the nearest future. Keeping a seed is a matter of vision instead of immediate provision. If you are going somewhere in life, you have to learn to be focused. Don’t be moved only by the present. Better still, be moved by the future.

The bottom line of the story of my grandfather is that he was prioritizing his goal based on his vision for the future not on the provision for the present. He segregated his needs to different aspects and arranged them in order of priority. Seeds first (Vision/future  first), provision/present follows. That is what economist will call drawing a scale of preference. Every cost has an alternate forgone. It is either you satisfy yourself now and suffer later. Or you suffer temporarily and enjoy forever. What is your choice?

If you are going somewhere in life, you have to list out your priorities in life. After you have done that, you will also take time to arrange them in scale of preference. The most important comes first. The least comes last. This affords you the opportunity to be focused on what is essential at present.

The issue of focus is what we are going to be dealing with tomorrow. Look forward to see you here again to know what focus entails and what makes it different form priority. I wish you the very best of the rest of the day. Peace!