Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1,2
If we claim to be Born Again farmers (farmers who are redeemed by Christ and who have given their lives to God) we must ask the question, ‘Does He care how we farm?”
One of the most perplexing things I have noticed in my pursuit of God-glorifying Agriculture,or Born Again Dirt, is the lack of other Christian farmers with the same desire or vision. There are very few, if any books or resources for Christian farmers seeking to honor God with their farms. There are a few, but for the most part, the apparent general consensus in the church is that farming is spiritually neutral.
If asked, “Does God care how we farm?”, many Christians today would probably answer something like, “Of course! God wants Christian farmers to be honest, fair, do a good job, and do to others as they would want others to do to them.” However, that still leaves the question, “So how does God want Christians to farm?” In other words, we understand that we need to follow Christian morals in farming, but does it matter what design we follow? I mean, should we follow a more industrial design, or organic? Should we use compost, or 13-13-13 chemical fertilizer? Should we use genetically modified seeds, or heirloom? From my observations, many professing Christian farmers, at least in practice, basically say, “As long as we do it for the right reasons, it doesn’t really matter what design we use.”
The problem I see with that opinion is that designs are not meaningless. Every design is intended to accomplish something, and behind that design is a purpose. Every design is designed for something.
This something, or purpose, gives a spiritual bias to the farming design. Why? Because everyone’s goals and purposes are the result of what they worship. So we can’t say that as long as our purposes are good, then our designs don’t matter because they could be designs that contradict or interfere with our purposes. It’s like saying that if you want to go ice-skating it doesn’t matter what design of shoe you wear, or if you are golfing it doesn’t matter if you use a driver to putt with or a putter to drive with!
As Christians, because we worship God we are to do everything for His glory. That is the purpose of our farming. So our farm design should be based upon and influenced by our worship of God.
God cares about how we farm because agriculture, like anything we do in life, is an act of worship. We were created by God to worship, and He demands that worship. He wants our farms to reflect the fact that we have given our hearts to him, acknowledging Him as the owner and creator of all. He desires that we purposely seek to find out how we can worship him in the way we farm because if we don’t, we will fall into idolatry. Because of sin, our natural tendency is to farm in such a way that it reflects a worship of creation, instead of the Creator.
In order to properly worship God through agriculture, we need to recognize that we don’t own our farms, He does. Of course, most of us believe that, but do we act upon it? Do we realize that it means we don’t have the right to do whatever we want to with our farms? Do we realize that if we treat our farms like they belong to us, making decisions according to our own plans and purposes, that we are acting like thieves? In order to properly worship God though our farming, we need to repent of carelessly using His property for our own means, in our own means, and seek to discover and implement His plan for our farms. Only then can we expect His blessing.
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. Deuteronomy 30:15-18
Noah,
This is incredibly inspiring. I’m thankful to God through Jesus Christ that you are sharing these truths. This is a well-written reminder that worship is a state of being. And having visited the farm myself, I know you are striving to live out what you preach – by the power of God that is at work in you.
In what way do you see farming in the Bible as a picture of the harvest of souls?
How has worshiping God through agriculture provided a platform for God to use you in the mission field of the Gospel?
In what ways do these two questions relate to God caring how we farm?
much Love in Christ,
Joseph
PS: I love the new pictures
Thanks for your helpful insights on our offering of ourselves to God. I agree that this is vital. I commend to you the website of the Agricultural Christian Fellowship in the United Kingdom. I also hope you might look at the Farm Crisis Network. http://www.fcn.org.uk
We support farmers in the UK, listen to them, and help them to find solutions to their problems. Best Wishes in Christ, Anthony
Noah,
Love your book am reading it for the third time and going to share this weekend about it on my FB page. Learning so much through you and also God speaking to me as I read it. Amazing!