Garden Growth
Garden Growth
“The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly heart and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23
She led you through the halls of her humble home until she reached the back door, where she welcomed you to walk ahead. As you pushed open the door, it took a moment for your eyes to take in the beautiful scene before you. Nestled inside the old brick fence lining the perimeter of the property grew the most spectacular garden you had ever seen. A graceful weeping willow kept the corner guard, surrounded by dozens of daffodils standing at attention. Brilliant pink and red peonies, encore azaleas, and a variety of ferns and tall grasses lined the pebbled pathway. “What’s your secret?” you wondered aloud as you inhaled the varied fragrances. Smiling, she answered, “The secret is in the soil.”
Before she planted a single bulb, she tilled the soil, tested its quality, and added the right nutrients to create the perfect conditions for planting. Rooted in the right soil, beautiful growth was inevitable.
Our hearts are much like our gardens. We may all hear the message of truth about God’s grace and forgiveness, but only hearts that are tilled with humility and repentance receive those spiritual seeds. When we are open to receive God’s grace, acknowledging our desperate need for Him, the light of His Son streams down, filling us with truth, and our lives sprout up in a beautiful display of His magnificent handiwork.
Today, ask God to tend to the soil of your soul. Then watch in wonder at the beautiful growth God will brin to your life.
+++
Humility and Repentance! These two words used by the author of our text are the stumbling block for most of the people in our world!
It is the sad failing of sinful humanity that in our sinfulness and rebellion we do not believe we need God! Now understand, people want to be religious, but they do not want the one true God. Look at the myriads of religions which captivate the majority of people in the world? People want to be religious but not real faith. Real faith is dependence upon God alone for your salvation. Religion is about what I can do to connect with God as I understand him. This means I must meet the standards my god demands as I understand them. When I have done well, I feel justified. When I have failed, I not only feel guilty but fearful. This is the cycle in which people live; self-justification or fear and guilt. What a miserable way to live.
Faith in the one true God is not about self-justification or fear and guilt. True faith is about humility and repentance. Faith looks to God and believes there is nothing in me and nothing I can do which can justify me in His sight. I am sinful and unworthy and that is the end of the discussion. Faith also looks to this same God knowing He is a God of love who desires to forgive and restore not judge and condemn.
Looking to Jesus as the fulfillment of all the promises of God we see His gracious heart and the price He paid, which we could never pay, and we know our sins are forgiven. The Good News of the Gospel sinks deep into the fertile soil of our hearts and we believe in Him. Our sin is forgiven and we are made new! Made new to bear fruit for His glory!
What do you think is the fruit we are to bear? Good works is usually the answer people give! A Christian is a person who does good works to the glory of God! This is true but this is not where we begin. We begin with repentance! Faith moves us to see Jesus as our Savior and that our whole existence today and for eternity is dependent upon Him. Repentance is my action when I see sin in my life and through faith, I desire to remove it and become an even clearer reflection of Jesus in my life.
When Jesus taught the Parable of the Sower and the Seed there were four types of soil representing four different responses of the heart to the Word of God. The hard heart, the rocking soul, then there was the ground full of weeds, and finally the soil of a good heart. It is faith which allows the Word to sink in, take root, and grow! It is humility which enables us to cast away our stubborn pride and look to Jesus knowing our own need for forgiveness.
Where there is humility there will be faith! Where faith is present then repentance will follow. And as the old saying goes, “When I spend my time doing the good God desires for me to do, I don’t have time to do the evil He does not want me to do.” Repentance is always followed by good works seen by others which opens the way for the seed to be planted in someone else’s heart!
Become the beautiful garden of the Grace of God for all the world to marvel at!
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
“The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly heart and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23
She led you through the halls of her humble home until she reached the back door, where she welcomed you to walk ahead. As you pushed open the door, it took a moment for your eyes to take in the beautiful scene before you. Nestled inside the old brick fence lining the perimeter of the property grew the most spectacular garden you had ever seen. A graceful weeping willow kept the corner guard, surrounded by dozens of daffodils standing at attention. Brilliant pink and red peonies, encore azaleas, and a variety of ferns and tall grasses lined the pebbled pathway. “What’s your secret?” you wondered aloud as you inhaled the varied fragrances. Smiling, she answered, “The secret is in the soil.”
Before she planted a single bulb, she tilled the soil, tested its quality, and added the right nutrients to create the perfect conditions for planting. Rooted in the right soil, beautiful growth was inevitable.
Our hearts are much like our gardens. We may all hear the message of truth about God’s grace and forgiveness, but only hearts that are tilled with humility and repentance receive those spiritual seeds. When we are open to receive God’s grace, acknowledging our desperate need for Him, the light of His Son streams down, filling us with truth, and our lives sprout up in a beautiful display of His magnificent handiwork.
Today, ask God to tend to the soil of your soul. Then watch in wonder at the beautiful growth God will brin to your life.
+++
Humility and Repentance! These two words used by the author of our text are the stumbling block for most of the people in our world!
It is the sad failing of sinful humanity that in our sinfulness and rebellion we do not believe we need God! Now understand, people want to be religious, but they do not want the one true God. Look at the myriads of religions which captivate the majority of people in the world? People want to be religious but not real faith. Real faith is dependence upon God alone for your salvation. Religion is about what I can do to connect with God as I understand him. This means I must meet the standards my god demands as I understand them. When I have done well, I feel justified. When I have failed, I not only feel guilty but fearful. This is the cycle in which people live; self-justification or fear and guilt. What a miserable way to live.
Faith in the one true God is not about self-justification or fear and guilt. True faith is about humility and repentance. Faith looks to God and believes there is nothing in me and nothing I can do which can justify me in His sight. I am sinful and unworthy and that is the end of the discussion. Faith also looks to this same God knowing He is a God of love who desires to forgive and restore not judge and condemn.
Looking to Jesus as the fulfillment of all the promises of God we see His gracious heart and the price He paid, which we could never pay, and we know our sins are forgiven. The Good News of the Gospel sinks deep into the fertile soil of our hearts and we believe in Him. Our sin is forgiven and we are made new! Made new to bear fruit for His glory!
What do you think is the fruit we are to bear? Good works is usually the answer people give! A Christian is a person who does good works to the glory of God! This is true but this is not where we begin. We begin with repentance! Faith moves us to see Jesus as our Savior and that our whole existence today and for eternity is dependent upon Him. Repentance is my action when I see sin in my life and through faith, I desire to remove it and become an even clearer reflection of Jesus in my life.
When Jesus taught the Parable of the Sower and the Seed there were four types of soil representing four different responses of the heart to the Word of God. The hard heart, the rocking soul, then there was the ground full of weeds, and finally the soil of a good heart. It is faith which allows the Word to sink in, take root, and grow! It is humility which enables us to cast away our stubborn pride and look to Jesus knowing our own need for forgiveness.
Where there is humility there will be faith! Where faith is present then repentance will follow. And as the old saying goes, “When I spend my time doing the good God desires for me to do, I don’t have time to do the evil He does not want me to do.” Repentance is always followed by good works seen by others which opens the way for the seed to be planted in someone else’s heart!
Become the beautiful garden of the Grace of God for all the world to marvel at!
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
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