My garden is tiny, but it’s my favorite place
at home. It is surrounded by a weeping willow, some bushes, and an ornamental
pear tree. My husband built a small patio where he put garden chairs and table.
I love to sit in the garden chair to enjoy the view. Today in the month of May,
yellow daffodils and purple tulips display their amazing colors.The sound of
birds chirping is a beautiful music to my ears. The willow is budding and the
pear tree is blooming white
Psalm 92:
13-15. The righteous will flourish like
a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of
the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear
fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is
upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
The righteous are the people who made right by the blood of Jesus Christ.
People like you and me who received Christ as our personal savior. After being
saved and cleansed, we cannot stay the same. A spiritual growth will happen to
us.
2 Peter
3:18. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Growing in the knowledge is like the growing of palm trees. Palm tress
grow quickly. They are tall but their roots are not that deep. Strong wind will
easily uproot them.
Peter asked us to grow in knowledge of Jesus Christ. We should learn the
habit and discipline of studying the Word of God. But we must be aware that
growing in knowledge solely will not enough for us. It has to be balanced with
growing in grace.
Cedars of Lebanon grow slowly. They take years and years to be mature and
tall. Their roots are very strong, planted deeply inside the ground. Growing in
grace is like the growing of Cedars.
I will share with you, three definitions of grace
1.
Unmerited divine help given for men for his regeneration
of sanctification
2.
Divine influence upon the heart and its reflection
in the life
3.
Active force within us giving us the desire and the
power to do things God’s way
To practice what we have learned in the Bible, we need grace. If we rely
on ourselves to do God’s will, we will be easily frustrated.
However… take heart! Our God knows what He’s doing. The verse below tells
us how God builds ourselves. He functions as a master builder here. Jesus is
the pattern of how our redeemed lives suppose to be. Then He calls us one by
one, by our names to set a relationship with us, with Him as the base/foundation.
After the relationship is set, God is staying with us until the end, to overseer
the workmanship, to invest on the project, to interfere when troubles comes or
when the work overwhelms us. He never leaves us alone. What we need to do is
building the personal relationship with Him.
Rome 8:29-30. God knew what he was doing from the very
beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him
along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line
of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives
there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like,
he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he
set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them
established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had
begun.
Let’s us grow in knowledge, let’s grow in grace. Let’s grow like a palm
tree and a cedar. Hmmm that made me thinking … Should I plant a cedar tree in
my garden?
Inspired by the book : Roots of Character by Wendell Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment