God gives the increase
Paul on who makes it grow
Paul confronts a church enamored with its leaders by stripping all the credit back to God: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The human work is real — planting and watering matter — but the growth, the thing that actually counts, comes from God alone. Without his increase, all the planting and watering produce nothing.
This is the heart of dependence. Leaders work hard — they plant and water, strategize and labor — and can begin to believe the results are theirs. Paul punctures it: you are not the one who gives the growth. The same is true of the psalmist's builders, who labor in vain unless the Lord builds the house. This does not excuse laziness — plant and water diligently — but it relocates the source of results. The leader who knows God gives the increase works hard and prays harder, depending on the only One who can make anything actually grow.
“You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.”
— Moses, on who gives the increase — Deuteronomy 8:18 (WEB)
Human effort plants and waters, but God alone gives the increase. Without his blessing, all the labor produces nothing.
“So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
Paul relocates the source of results from the worker to God. A leader formed here works hard while crediting the growth to God. The inner work is laboring diligently and depending utterly, holding both.
Work hard at planting and watering, but depend on God for the growth and give him the credit. Pray as hard as you labor, knowing results are his to give. Resist believing the outcomes are yours.
Leaders take credit for results and labor as if everything depends on them. The blind spot is forgetting that without God’s increase, the hardest work yields nothing.
Take one effort whose results you have been claiming. This week, work diligently but consciously depend on God for the increase.
Leaders plant and water, strategize and labor, and begin to believe the results are theirs. Paul punctures it: you are not the one who gives the growth.
Are you laboring as if the results depend on you, or depending on the God who alone gives the increase?