GALATIANS‬ ‭6:9-10‬ ‭‬‬

As Paul has illustrated throughout his writings, a major pitfall in following Christ is a lack of endurance. Often believers defeat themselves in this process before they even begin because they are so finitely minded that they forget who God is and what he is capable of. Paul notes that forgetting who he is and trying to be an infinite creature, is exhausting. As a farmer labors the hard soil, it will take time and energy and effort. The farmer will need to pace himself, not just for his own sake, but for the soil’s. Too many Christians never grow because they expend too much energy to quickly, not taking into account the type of work or the breadth of it necessary to mature them. If we are to mature into soil that can bear the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, it will not be done in selfish, bitter and anxious soil. Love, joy and peace cannot grow there. The work is in tilling and weeding that soil first, and that might take years before it is ready to cultivate the right fruit. This is why Paul says to not tire of the work. Because Christian maturity is the tilling of hard soil, the cultivating of the fruit, and the harvesting of it, long before participating in the blessings of it. It is farm to table in a world of pre packaged nutrition less convenience.