I live in the great and glorious state of Texas. :) And there is only one word to describe Texas this time of year...HOT! It is so hot that when you are outside for any length of time, you can literally feel the heat like fire on your skin. Thankfully, the Lord has extravagantly blessed us with two marvelous inventions that make the hot summer days bearable, pools and air conditioning!
While I can come inside and escape the blazing sun, my poor little basil plant, that started off this whole blog, cannot. A few mintes ago, I walked outside to snag a few leaves and noticed that my basil plant was looking pretty droopy. I grabbed the hose and doused it with water, giving my little plant a nice long drink. About 5 minutes later I went back outside to find my basil plant back to it's perky self. I was a bit amazed at how quickly the water perked the plant back up! So, I picked a few leaves afterall and added them into my homemade eggplant parmesean that will serve as tonights dinner. Yum, I can't wait!
This little scenario sparked a verse in my mind that Eli and I have been reciting lately. John 7:37-38 says, "37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
Do you find yourself feeling "droopy" because the heat of life is getting to you? Are you thirsty? If so, there is great news for you...Jesus Himself is inviting you to come and to drink. He is the one who douses us with living water, quenching our thirst and renewing our spirit. We are revived and replenished instantly in Christ. While the heat may not necessarily go away, we receive a new source of strength, hope, and courage that allows us to endure and thrive even in the midst of our greatest trials. And when we find ourselves perked back up with the living water that Jesus offers to us freely, we can once again be effectively used for the purpose Christ has for us.
Oh Lord, we are so thirsty for You. We thank You that You indeed are all that we need. We thank You for Your invitation to come to You and to drink. We accept Your offer; we come to You now, Jesus, and we drink deeply of the living water that You provide. Thank you for the satisfying, thirst quenching life that is found in you, Jesus.
Showing posts with label nature lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature lessons. Show all posts
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Fruitless Zucchini
I have a zucchini plant that produces the most beautiful blooms. It has rich green leaves, buds with much potential, and gorgeous orange flowers. But there is one problem with my zucchini plant...it never produces any fruit. While I enjoy the orange blossoms, I did not buy the plant to serve as a flower. I bought it to produce zucchini. I planted it in good soil, I water it regulary, and yet to date my plant has not produced a single fruit.
As I was checking on my zucchini plant the other day, I couldn't help but sense an admonition from the Lord in this. In my spirit, I felt God tenderly say, "Don't be all bloom and no fruit."
The Bible has much to say about bearing fruit.
In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, God tells the very first people, Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply..." (Gen 1:28). From the start, we are commanded to bear fruit. All throughout His Word He carries out this word picture of His people "bearing fruit." Jesus often talks about our fruit and is recorded in all of the gospels using this analogy. He talks about a tree being known by its fruit; He tells the parable about the seed falling on good soil and producing fruit a hundredfold, etc. In Galations we read about the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22). Old Testament and New Testament alike, the call to bear fruit is clear.
So what does this mean? Are we to leave our citified lives and move out to an apple orchard to literally produce fruit. Of course not. We are being called to live out our faith. James is very well known for writing, "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). While this verse has stirred up a great deal of controversary throughout the ages, James is not talking about salvation here. He is not saying that you must do works to be saved. Salvation comes by faith alone in Christ alone. But rather when we trust in Jesus, when we are born again of His Spirit, our very identity and purpose changes. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Our new identity and purpose...fruit bearers!
So, getting back to my zucchini plant...what if we don't bear fruit? What if we bud and we bloom and look great to all those around us and yet fail to truly live out what we are called to do. Here are a few thoughts per my zucchini plant.
First, our fruit does not determine our identity. Even if my zucchini plant fails to produce a single fruit, it is still a zucchini plant. Likewise, if you truly have trusted in the death of Jesus Christ alone as payment for your sin and received Him as your Lord and Savior and the King of your life, then you are once and for all a child of God. By His grace alone, we have received the great exchange..."For God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousnss of God" (2 Cor 5:21). Whether or not I bear fruit does not change my identy. My zucchini plant is still a zucchini plant, it is just not fulfilling it's purpose.
Your fruit does not drive your identity, but rather your identity should drive your fruit. My zucchini plant does not have to first produce a zucchini to become a zucchini plant, but rather it should produce zucchini because it is a zucchini plant. I hope you didn't lose me there in the abundant use of the word zucchini. :) What I am saying is that we don't first do good works and bear fruit to be deemed a Christian. Rather, when we become a believer and follower of Christ, our identity is changed and thus we bear fruit. Works and fruit do not merit our salvation, but they are what we were designed to do. We are most fulfilled in doing them, most satisfied when filling the intent and purpose we were created for.
Paul expresses this much better than I can in his letter to the Ephesians. He writes, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph 2:8-10)
Saved by grace through faith in order that we might do good works. They have been prepared for us specifically and intentionally by God. Will we do them?
This is where my conviction comes in. I feel like there are so many blooms that God springs up in me, but I can fall short on turning that bloom into fruit. I hear a sermon or a teaching or read a scripture that stirs my heart. I am moved to do something, to help the poor, to visit the eldery, to serve, to share the gospel with someone, to invite a neighbor to church, to write someone and email, to share a verse or encouragement with someone who needs a boost...whatever it may be. Then, the day gets busy, my schedule fills up, I second guess myself, I get to cleaning and doing other "important" chores and let that bloom die without ever bearing any fruit.
Does this mean that I will die and go to hell? Does God reject me because I failed to follow through? No, of course not...it is by the blood of Christ alone that I am granted to free gift of eternal life. But nonetheless, I have missed out on an opportunity that He had provided me to bear fruit for Him. To do a good work that He had prepared beforehand for me to do. To be fulfilled in living out my purpose, to add meaning to this life, to make an eternal difference. To build His Kingdom instead of just my own.
So how do we bear fruit? The key is in Galations 5:22, a familiar verse to many. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Verse 25 says "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Did you catch it? The key is that the fruit is not truly ours to bear on our own...it is the fruit of the SPIRIT. It is only by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God living and working in us that we bear fruit. One of my favorite verses in all of the Bible is Romans 11:36. It says, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen." This is all about God~ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This fruit that we are to bear is from Him, through Him and to Him. It is all for His glory.
Oh Lord, I pray that by the power of Your Holy Spirit living in me that you will make me an abundant fruit bearer. I invite You, Holy Spirit, to come and abide in me and to do Your work in and through me. I pray that You will enable and equip me to complete and fulfill every good work that you have prepared beforehand for me to do. I pray that You will give me Your eyes today that I might see people as you see them, give me ears that are tuned into Your voice alone, make me Your hands and feet, use me as Your mouthpiece to share the Good News of the Life and Salvation and Hope and Joy and Love that are found only in You, Jesus. Use me to build Your Kingdom, Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.
I will leave you with one closing thought from John 15:
Jesus Himself says: "“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful....No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ...I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing....You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last."
Now get out there and go bear fruit that will last!
As I was checking on my zucchini plant the other day, I couldn't help but sense an admonition from the Lord in this. In my spirit, I felt God tenderly say, "Don't be all bloom and no fruit."
The Bible has much to say about bearing fruit.
In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, God tells the very first people, Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply..." (Gen 1:28). From the start, we are commanded to bear fruit. All throughout His Word He carries out this word picture of His people "bearing fruit." Jesus often talks about our fruit and is recorded in all of the gospels using this analogy. He talks about a tree being known by its fruit; He tells the parable about the seed falling on good soil and producing fruit a hundredfold, etc. In Galations we read about the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22). Old Testament and New Testament alike, the call to bear fruit is clear.
So what does this mean? Are we to leave our citified lives and move out to an apple orchard to literally produce fruit. Of course not. We are being called to live out our faith. James is very well known for writing, "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). While this verse has stirred up a great deal of controversary throughout the ages, James is not talking about salvation here. He is not saying that you must do works to be saved. Salvation comes by faith alone in Christ alone. But rather when we trust in Jesus, when we are born again of His Spirit, our very identity and purpose changes. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Our new identity and purpose...fruit bearers!
So, getting back to my zucchini plant...what if we don't bear fruit? What if we bud and we bloom and look great to all those around us and yet fail to truly live out what we are called to do. Here are a few thoughts per my zucchini plant.
First, our fruit does not determine our identity. Even if my zucchini plant fails to produce a single fruit, it is still a zucchini plant. Likewise, if you truly have trusted in the death of Jesus Christ alone as payment for your sin and received Him as your Lord and Savior and the King of your life, then you are once and for all a child of God. By His grace alone, we have received the great exchange..."For God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousnss of God" (2 Cor 5:21). Whether or not I bear fruit does not change my identy. My zucchini plant is still a zucchini plant, it is just not fulfilling it's purpose.
Your fruit does not drive your identity, but rather your identity should drive your fruit. My zucchini plant does not have to first produce a zucchini to become a zucchini plant, but rather it should produce zucchini because it is a zucchini plant. I hope you didn't lose me there in the abundant use of the word zucchini. :) What I am saying is that we don't first do good works and bear fruit to be deemed a Christian. Rather, when we become a believer and follower of Christ, our identity is changed and thus we bear fruit. Works and fruit do not merit our salvation, but they are what we were designed to do. We are most fulfilled in doing them, most satisfied when filling the intent and purpose we were created for.
Paul expresses this much better than I can in his letter to the Ephesians. He writes, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph 2:8-10)
Saved by grace through faith in order that we might do good works. They have been prepared for us specifically and intentionally by God. Will we do them?
This is where my conviction comes in. I feel like there are so many blooms that God springs up in me, but I can fall short on turning that bloom into fruit. I hear a sermon or a teaching or read a scripture that stirs my heart. I am moved to do something, to help the poor, to visit the eldery, to serve, to share the gospel with someone, to invite a neighbor to church, to write someone and email, to share a verse or encouragement with someone who needs a boost...whatever it may be. Then, the day gets busy, my schedule fills up, I second guess myself, I get to cleaning and doing other "important" chores and let that bloom die without ever bearing any fruit.
Does this mean that I will die and go to hell? Does God reject me because I failed to follow through? No, of course not...it is by the blood of Christ alone that I am granted to free gift of eternal life. But nonetheless, I have missed out on an opportunity that He had provided me to bear fruit for Him. To do a good work that He had prepared beforehand for me to do. To be fulfilled in living out my purpose, to add meaning to this life, to make an eternal difference. To build His Kingdom instead of just my own.
So how do we bear fruit? The key is in Galations 5:22, a familiar verse to many. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Verse 25 says "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Did you catch it? The key is that the fruit is not truly ours to bear on our own...it is the fruit of the SPIRIT. It is only by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God living and working in us that we bear fruit. One of my favorite verses in all of the Bible is Romans 11:36. It says, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen." This is all about God~ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This fruit that we are to bear is from Him, through Him and to Him. It is all for His glory.
Oh Lord, I pray that by the power of Your Holy Spirit living in me that you will make me an abundant fruit bearer. I invite You, Holy Spirit, to come and abide in me and to do Your work in and through me. I pray that You will enable and equip me to complete and fulfill every good work that you have prepared beforehand for me to do. I pray that You will give me Your eyes today that I might see people as you see them, give me ears that are tuned into Your voice alone, make me Your hands and feet, use me as Your mouthpiece to share the Good News of the Life and Salvation and Hope and Joy and Love that are found only in You, Jesus. Use me to build Your Kingdom, Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.
I will leave you with one closing thought from John 15:
Jesus Himself says: "“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful....No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ...I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing....You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last."
Now get out there and go bear fruit that will last!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
My Basil Plant
God just taught me a lesson through my basil plant. Indeed, the Lord speaks in mysterious ways…He speaks in everything, He is in everything. I love it when God snaps my spiritual eyes and ears in tune with Him, and helps me to see Truth in the world around me. That is what just happened to me a few moments ago.
I was outside watering my tomatoes and checking on my herbs. I have gotten into container gardening this year and cannot tell you how excited I am about it! When checking on my basil, something near the top of my plant caught my attention. I drew close and let out an audible “whoa!” I am not sure if the picture will truly reveal the marvel that stuck out to me. There at the top of the plant, you could see that there were dozens of ity bity basil leaves just waiting to come up! Then, in about an instant God deposited a truth in my heart that I will attempt to convey to you. When God speaks truth to your heart, it is truly an amazing thing. In a Nano second, you just get it. He does not use words; it is as if you just now know something that you did not the instant before. I will try to explain this in words, because unlike the Holy Spirit I cannot deposit truth in your heart, but I pray that through me He will reveal to you the same delightful truth that He just shared with me.
As I stooped down low and looked at the basil plant, I was amazed at just how many basil leaves there were about to come up. I realized that most of the time, I find myself savoring each leaf and not wanting to waste it, feeling as if there are a limited number of leaves that I am about to use up. Looking at all of those baby leaves, it hit me that God was about to bring about more basil leaves than I could count. They are not limited, I do not have to use them so sparingly, God is showing my little basil plant increase. And in my heart, the spiritual truth set in.
This is how God wants to bless me. Not sparingly, but beyond what I can count. He does not just have one blessing for me that I better use well and enjoy. He has blessing upon blessing. He wants to overwhelm me with them! He has so much in store and so much more to come. They are limitless, they are abundant. He is a generous God! In Ephesians, Paul writes, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph 3:20-21) He delights in blessing us, because in doing so it ultimately brings glory to Jesus Christ.
Oh that I will obediently follow Him, that I will love Him wholeheartedly, that I will know Him intimately. Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” This is not a “how to get what you want from God” type of quote. It cannot be manipulated, for we must remember that God always knows the “thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb 4:12). Proverbs 16:2 says “All a man’s ways are innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” We cannot pretend to delight in God to get what we want, because He knows our hearts and our motives. But on the other hand, when we truly delight in God, when we long for and seek and desire Him above all else, then we will become like my little basil plant. We will have a plethora of blessings that spring forth so abundantly that we cannot even count them all!
Just to be clear, I am not necessarily speaking of so called earthly blessings…money, beauty, health, a problem free, stress free existence. I am speaking of heavenly blessings. He will give us good things. He will bless us richly. He is our good and generous God!
Oh Lord, thank you that you love to bless me, not because I deserve it, but simply because of who You are! You are the God who has created every Good thing, you create everything beautiful. The glorious magnificence of a beautiful sunset, the heart lifting giggle of a little one, the ever growing depth of true love…all of these are from you, thought up by you, created simply for our enjoyment and for the glory of Your name. Oh Lord, we thank you for the abundance of blessings all around us. Indeed, they are rich. We breathe you in deeply, overwhelmed with gratitude for the extravagant ways that you express Your love toward us. Lord, indeed we delight in You. Not because we long for stuff. You are the prize, You are the greatest blessing. Indeed as the song goes, “As the deer panteth for the water so my soul longeth after Thee. You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship Thee.” We love you, Jesus, thank you for the blessing of life that is found in You alone. We love You, Father, thank You for being a God who has created such beauty and so generously pours out your blessings on us. We love you, Holy Spirit, thank you for revealing Your truth to us in all things, including a little pot of basil. You are a magnificent God, and I am so honored that you have chosen me to know you. I am humbled. I love you Lord, thank you for loving me first! In Jesus name, Amen.
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