The Right to Sow

Didn't Jesus hang out with the strangest sort of people?! I know He came to minister life to the lost, but He went beyond just ministering to them, He hung out with them! He ate with them, visited their homes and sat around the campfire with them! What was that all about?! Relationship, that's what it was all about.
I believe Jesus was showing us that you have to have a person's permission to sow into their life. You wouldn't just go next door into your neighbor's garden and start planting seeds would you? Well, you shouldn'! You don't have that right! You need permission from your neighbor to do that!
The Bible teaches that we are sowers sowing seed. The seed is the Word of God. Somehow we are under the impression that because we are sowing something we feel is good for a person, we should be able to sow into that person's life without their permission. Wrong! If you want to sow into someone's life, you need to build a relationship with that person and they will give you permission to sow. Then your seed will grow and produce. Relationships take time and some Christians don't want to take time. They want to blow in, preach a sermon and blow out again, on to the next field!
Jesus took time to build a relationship. He understood that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care! He let people know that He loved them and cared about them, then He sowed the seed. Then He had the right to!
We'll all find our sowing more productive if we'll follow Jesus' lead. Build the relationship and then you'll have the right to sow in that field!