Sowing in Tears, Reaping in Joy

In the Kingdom of God, it appears that every appointed process produces an opposite outcome from what one would expect.
I had blogged about this idea earlier in a more general sense, so if you are interested in what I mean, take your time and do some reading (the post is hyper-linked above). But even looking over history with the eyes of "The Faith" we can see how this paradox has played out many a time:

The Israelites were appointed to be enslaved in Egypt only to come out with a mandate from YHWH of becoming God's holy chosen people meant to flourish and occupy a holy land.

The Israelites, after forsaking their God in their new land, were appointed to be conquered and brought into captivity by neighboring nations only to come out humbled and dedicated as a nation to serving their LORD once again.

But don't get it twisted. It's not always because of correction that God orchestrates His purposes this way. Jesus Christ Himself, the holy anointed One, lived a perfect life but still found Himself in this paradoxical pattern of pain and purpose.

Jesus Christ Himself was appointed to be betrayed by His followers and executed through Roman crucifixion only to be resurrected and elevated to the right hand of the Father―to establish an eternal Kingdom and bring life and hope to all peoples and nations that would choose to put their faith in Him.

With that groundwork laid, I pondered something today that was quite significant to me. It's counter-intuitive and uncomfortable at the same time soooo... the more I think about it, the more I'm pretty sure it's in the will and ways of God haha:

"Sometimes in the body of Christ, it's when we're most different with one another that real strong, Christ centered fellowship can flourish."
Now let me emphasize that word "can" before we proceed. You can have good soil in your garden (Mark 4). You can have a heart positioned in the right place. But that doesn't mean that anything will grow. Growth doesn't just come out of good soil. Growth comes out of seeds in good soil. Seeds need to be sown for there to be growth. In other words, in this example, you can't just be positioned to fellowship with people different than you and expect that strong, Christ centered fellowship to flourish on it's own. It doesn't naturally happen. That's the whole point! It requires the supernatural! It requires life! But I do believe that the ground of diverse and unexpected relationships is where those supernatural seeds, when sown, "produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown" (Mark 4:20).
How many of us have become frustrated in our inter-personal relationships because they are not as deep and fruitful as we would like?
How many of us have wanted to engage with others further than the surface but have had trouble initiating? Those of you that have this problem, I say to you "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). It's in the realization of our lack that we gain the opportunity to be filled with the supernatural, with the ability to sow. Those of us that crave in order to grow deeper in righteousness for the sake of God's kingdom (Psalm 23:3) have opened ourselves up through humility to receive blessings from heaven, "blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matt 5:6). In fact, others that seem to be "cool" are actually in a worse place than you. Comfort is where idleness is born. Comfort is where blindness is formed.
For those of us in a place of comfort, we have a different calling. Our calling is to forsake what we know in our comfort and let Christ redefine our norms.
Instead of being filled with the enjoyments of this world, you are to mourn as though you were not comfortable in order to receive an eternal comfort that is not dependent upon your surroundings. Seek to humble yourself before God in your blessings before He humbles you out of them. Then your life will speak these words of Jesus in all seasons, "blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." But those who do not have the luxury of comfort on the surface level have no choice but to connect on a human level―a level that many of us don't want to show. But a level that we were meant to show nonetheless. How can I connect with this person that is so different than me? We don't like the same food. We don't have the same interests. We don't wear the same clothes. We don't listen to the same music. We haven't had similar upbringings. What do we share in common? Humanity. Struggles. Issues. Sin. Forgiveness. Jesus. This is where real strong Christ centered fellowship can flourish.

 And last but not least...

Don't tell God what your fruitful relationships should look like.
If you've never had the fruit before, what makes you think you are the one with the ability to identify it? And if you have had strong God led relationships in the past, who are you to say the ones that God has planned for you in the future will be the same? Fruit comes in seasons. As seasons change you may get different things here and different things there. But fruit of the Spirit is never seasonal. What you need, it will be grown, and it will be grown in you―love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Your job isn't to make it grow. Your job is to tend to the crop. Your job is to sow the seeds. You don't know what it's supposed to grow into. Whether in happiness or in tears, count it all joy because by faith you can know that He's at work.