“I planted the seed in your hearts, Apollos watered it, but it was God
who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the
watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” 1 Corinthians
3:6-7
Faith is a living thing. It
takes nurturing, fertilizing, and seasons of rest for it to thrive. Sin is like
the locust, or the blight that damages the vine. Yet, by a careful pruning away
of the diseased parts, the plant will flourish above and beyond our wildest
expectations.
There is a profound
relationship between the soil, the sun, and the rain. Not having enough or
having too much of one has the ability to stifle a growing plant if not kill it
outright.
I believe the soil is the
community of believers in my life who share my desire to come to know Him better
through the inspired Word of God, the Bible. Without community, we have no
roots.
The sun is the Son of
God who came to earth, lived, died and ascended into heaven to sit at the right
hand of His Father. His light can chase away all the darkness, all the shadows,
all the blight and locusts. His Light illuminates the better way: the way of
love, grace, peace and forgiveness. He makes it possible for these things to
exist within us.
The rain is the Holy Spirit
whose presence pours into our soul the moment we declare Jesus as Lord of our life.
He is the third facet of God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit. This is an attribute of God that is often hard to understand for those
who question or for those who seek a greater meaning to life. It can be hard for followers of Jesus to understand, too!
(Long Pause.)
So...I am a human. I am also a woman, a mother, a
grandmother, an employee, an artist, a musician. There are many different
aspects of my identity and abilities that make up me. They are relational not
separate. For me, that means I am a better musician because I can paint. I am a
better artist because I can hear the song in what I see. I am thankful for
these gifts.
God chose to make us in His
image for the purpose of relationship, an image whose very foundation is relational.
He is Father, Brother,
Bride-groom, Friend. He was a babe, a child, a man so an immortal God would
know what it was to be mortal. He humbled Himself so He could meet me, us,
where we stand.
He loved us that much He was
prepared to die.
There is nothing I need to do
or nothing I could do that would ever earn His kind of love. It is a gift
without limits whose only restriction is based on my own free will and the
choices I make. But those are my restrictions, not God’s. They are my limitations,
formed from an imperfect understanding of the profoundly simple, "God is Love". There are more limitations shaped by experiences
and sin; sin being anything that keeps us apart from God.
These limitations are becoming less and less the deeper I delve into matters of faith or as Paul so clearly stated, "God makes the seed grow."
Faith is a living thing. It
takes nurturing, fertilizing and seasons of rest for it to thrive. Faith is the
ultimate expression of free will. I have chosen to live my life according to my
beliefs as best I can. The best simply gets better every day because God, Jesus
and the Holy Spirit are active participants in this life not merely bi-standers waiting to
greet me when I die.
Thank You, Jesus, for making this possible. AMEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment