SPRING FLING
Falling in love with Jesus is not just a fling. It’s time to grow in Christ!
March 3rd, 2023
FIRSTFRUITS
James 1:17-18, ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.’ (NIV)
As humans, we don’t typically like to think about dirty, dark places. Sometimes, they are referred to as ‘seedy’. I always wondered why that was. Then I realized it possibly is because seeds must be put in dark and dirty places in order to grow.
Now, isn’t that interesting? In order for a seed, which often, more times than not, will produce something glorious, something magical, something delicious or beautiful, it must be put in a grimy, unglorified, dank and black place for it to thrive. Not only that, but it must be buried and left there, forgotten and untouched. We don’t set out to plant a garden, tilling the ground to get it ready for what we desire to grow, and simply lay the seeds haphazardly on the top of the soil. Nor do we set them in trenches and cover them over with dirt, and then go back out the next day, and dig them up to see if there is any change occurring.
It is a very methodical process, planting is. In fact, it often requires more patience than many are willing to yield to it. What it requires is patience and persistence, methodology and care and gentleness. The soil must be tendered just precisely. One doesn’t toss out seeds onto barren and hardened ground. The dirt has been plowed and turned, watered and fertilized, causing it to have the best opportunity to offer growth and success. Rows are created, and the gardener has precisely determined what seeds he or she wishes to produce, and where each one is most prone for favorable outcome. Then the seeds are individually buried in deep pockets and gently covered over with moist soil. The rows are marked so the gardener can know what to expect to flourish in each column, and day after day, the gardener gives detailed definition and attention to the care of what has been planted, watering, weeding, watching, waiting. The gestation of what has been plant is concise. It must be nurtured and tended to, and after the expectant process, something amazing is birthed and begins to grow.
What the Master Gardener is doing in your life and mine is no different than this process of sowing and reaping described above. He is planting you and me for an extreme and perfect purpose. Often we are buried in deep, dark and dirty places where sometimes we cannot see the light of His promise. But our souls can. He cares for us and nurtures us, tending to us and watering us with His love, belief faithfulness toward us. And when the perfect time comes, He will birth in us, just what He was preparing us for, what the Gardener desires to yield out of our lives. We must trust the process and the precision and the promise. Because from it, from the dirty and dank soil, springs up something beautiful, filled with hope, potential and possibility. It may seem for a season that at times we are left untouched and forgotten. But, Beautiful You, you and I have not been forgotten; we are growing, maturing, becoming all He intends us to be.
Isaiah 55:10-11, ‘”As the snow and rain that fall from heaven do not return until they have accomplished their purpose, soaking the earth and causing it to sprout with new life, providing seed to sow and bread to eat, so also will be the Word that I speak; it does not return to Me unfulfilled. My Word performs My purpose and fulfills the mission I sent it to accomplish.”’ (TPT)
