Keys to Growth- 1

That Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. Ephesians 3:17

It seems like we are still in gardening mode! This is not a picture of anything I have grown. My attempt to grow vegetables was in those new style corrugated iron, above ground gardens. I was very excited at the prospect of picking dinner vegetables from the garden, but I lost the battle. It seemed to be a lot of work for too little return in our case. More of that later.

For anything to grow it must start with something - a seed, a bulb or a cutting.  The Christian faith is the same.  It must start with something, that something is the seed of trust. We put our trust in God's loving gift of Jesus Christ and Christ's sacrifice, in our place, for our sins.  When we do that, we have the beginnings of a new life, the spiritual life.  Our spirit becomes alive to God and so then we have something to develop and grow. 

It is helpful to know that there has been a time in my life when I have invited Jesus Christ into my heart as Lord and Saviour.  It's not about church attendance or being good or never hurting anyone.  It's about trusting that through Christ I have received the unconditional love of God, cleansing from sin, and that is my only qualification for eternal life when I die.  It is all about faith.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  It is as simple as that.  If you can't remember doing it, why not do it now.

To get a plant growing it needs nutrients and water.  The problem with my garden boxes was that   I couldn't keep enough water to the plants.  The ground always seemed dry.  When we dug the ground over we found wads of fine root growth.  The very clever eucalypt trees, big ones, nearby had developed a source of water in my gardens and were robbing the vegetables.  Result- poor growth.

A Christian's nutrition comes through reading God's word and getting to know the nature of God and what a Christian life should look like.  It's like getting to know 'the family guidelines'.  We also need the fellowship of other Christians and good Bible teaching to help us grow. Given these conditions, we can't help but grow and develop.

The verse above in Ephesians speaks about our roots needing to go down deep into God's love and this will make us strong.  When we know that we are loved with an everlasting love, and accepted with an unconditional love we will become secure and ready to produce good fruit for God's Kingdom.  This is the first part of our discipleship process.  Becoming a Christian is not the end, it is only the beginning of an exciting and fulfilling life journey. 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for new life in you. Thank you for your great love for me. Help me to be committed to growth and fruitfulness for your Kingdom.   Amen