Building Blocks

If I were planting a garden, there are certain steps that should be taken. If I just got vegetable seeds and threw them into the weeds, I would not have much hope for produce. First, we have to work up the ground to make sure the weeds are not growing and that the soil is in a condition to grow these seeds. After a while, the weeds find a way to start growing again. We need to find the best way to control the weeds and what the optimal conditions are for the seeds we planted. Then the vegetable plants begin to bear fruit and now provide rewards for the Sower. In some ways, short of the harvest, these are some of the basic steps, or the building blocks, to having a great garden. What about our own walk of faith. I ran across the following quote, “God formed us. Sin deformed us. The Bible informs us. But Jesus transforms us.” God made the seeds, and He made the people. He formed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and He created us in our mother’s womb. God is the Creator of all things. Each person is unique, with specific gifts and abilities and a group of people that they are part of. God created us to use these gifts to plant the seeds of hope in their hearts. Even though God has done amazing things, the Devil is working hard to undo it all. In the garden it might be fungus and disease and drought. In life, it is sin. Through sin and the work of Satan, our relationship with God is imperfect and strained. You were created in the image of God, but Satan has been instrumental in my temptations and falling away from God. The Good News is that God has a better way. Unlike the ads on the internet that give you some information about their product and then try to suck you into following them, God’s word gives us the whole truth. It informs us about the mercy and grace of God and the work of Jesus on the cross. As you see the plants bear fruit, we go from a person, diseased by sin, to a marvelous creation, bearing spiritual fruit. As seeds become fruitful plants, we are transformed from a flawed individual with no eternal hope to a flawed individual that has been renewed in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. All this is done that we might perform as we were created to do. Lord, may our lives be a living testimony to who You are. May our lives declare Your praises all of our days. Amen