CREDIT: Dall-E3 AI
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
After another snowstorm, I’m wishing for Spring. The groundhog seems to have been right, but I really wish Spring would hurry up! For positivity, I’m thinking about my garden – and what I’ll plant. Regardless of what I plant, I know two things will be essential – good soil and adequate water. Without both, anything planted will wither and die. But with both, my garden will bear fruit.
God’s like a gardener in many ways because His Word is filled with many images of planting, nourishment, water, and fruit … as well as, malnourishment, drought, and withered chaff. As the Creator, He knows what plants need to flourish and what makes them wither and die. More importantly, He knows the same about us.
God’s Word often compares two kinds of people – the blessed and the cursed. The kind of person one is depends on where they “plant” themselves. God has no desire for any person to be wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 32). He doesn’t decide who will be blessed and who will be cursed ahead of time. Rather God desires all mankind to be saved through faith in Him and His Word. “Blessed is the man … who delights in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season.” (Psalm 1:1,2-3) Yet the wicked He warns are wicked because they will not stand “in the congregation of the righteous.” (Psalm 1:5) The cursed one is so because their “heart turns away from the Lord,” (Jeremiah 17:5) while the blessed one “trusts in the Lord ... like a tree planted by water.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
God invites us to plant ourselves in Him and His Word; to be nourished by Him like a tree planted near water, to bear good fruit in His kingdom, and to be saved by Him through faith in His Son. So, what are you waiting for?! Get planted in the water of life – God and His Word!
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jim