ODJ: making life grow
March 11, 2011
Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit (v.10).
READ: Colossians 1:9-14
I love food fresh from the garden, particularly tomatoes. A couple years in a row, I had idyllic visions of growing our own crop and having a limitless supply of red, juicy deliciousness. The first season, a vicious fungus ravaged every last plant. The second season, our 2-year-old son ravaged every last plant (sneaking into our garden and snatching every fledgling tomato as soon as it began to form). I believe I’ve had a few other attempts, but I’ve conveniently forgotten about those disasters. For all my desire and effort, I simply haven’t been able to grow tomatoes.
Often, we have strong (and good) desires for our hearts to grow, our faith to grow, our obedience to Jesus to yield results. God wants these things for us too. He longs for us to “be strengthened with all His glorious power” (v.11). We are regularly tempted to believe, however, that our work is what actually makes the growth take place. If our prayers appear to be unanswered, we assume it must be because we aren’t praying right—and we set out to find the right prayer formula. If we don’t feel as close to God as we would like, we assume we must not have hit upon the proper spiritual regimen.
The truth is, though, that we can’t make our spiritual lives sprout any more than we can make a fruit tree blossom. It is God who has “enabled [us] to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people” (v.12). It is God who “has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness” (v.13). We didn’t do anything other than listen, receive, and obey. God did all the work. All of it.
Many anxious and restless days could be avoided if we rested in God, simply obeyed Him, and trusted Him for “every kind of good fruit” (v.10). —Winn Collier
How have you been tempted to believe that the key to your growth is your own effort? How will you trust more in God?
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