I’ve never been much of an environmentalist; I keep my trash in a can and recycle if given the chance. Though, it’s occurred to me that we are more connected to nature than we think. Jesus often likens us to vines or the ground which grow fruit or wheat. It is important that we understand that we aren’t machines taking in and putting out. There is more to our existence. Just as nature is more than just the scenery around you. We get lost in worldly things (done purposely by the devil I might add) and take for granted the simplicity and beauty that is God’s creation.
Through our lives we go through seasons, we grow up in summer enjoying our childhood and learning the good things that the world has to offer. We don’t worry about bills, marriage, working, and hardly even eating. We play and let the sunshine its light on us which makes us grow. As we get older fall creeps in. We begin to grow colder and harsher as we leave childhood and are met with the cold knowledge of history, and the lingering responsibilities that will soon come. Winter soon follows and we are thrown out into the cold to find work, expand our opportunities and become a provider in a barren world. If we aren’t careful, we might not make it through the winter, and some of us never do.
Though you can live on, spring never comes to us, because there is one simple thing that we forgot while trying to gain the knowledge of this world. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. It is only when we remember our creator and begin to live out his will that spring comes to us. The knowledge of the cold world leaves us, and we begin to grow in the teachings of Jesus Christ. His knowledge is what allows us to grow. It is his light that brings us back to our child-like state. That allows us to be kind, gentle, patient, loving, joyful, faithful, good, and have self-control.
Without Jesus, we are plants trying to grow in the permafrost. Without his light there is no warmth for the spirit to grow. Until we surrender to his will, we will not bear the fruits of the spirit.
So, let me ask you, reader, what is your temperature? Where are you leaves? Are your branches bare, producing no fruit? Or is Jesus in your life, providing you warmth and giving you what you need to bare fruit? Our seasons are not determined by a clock or by a calendar. Our timing is on God’s time. In my own experience, soften your heart, do not lean on your own understanding, allow God to shine the light of his son on you, and you will grow. Some 30-fold, some 60-fold, and some 100-fold. Galatians 5:22-24; Mathew
13: 3-9