Flourish: Creating Space to ThriveSample

Growing in the Light

Location, location, location.

We often hear this phrase used in the real estate market, but it also applies to choosing the perfect spot for a garden. And had I been thinking of that, we might not have purchased our current house. Back then, however, I had no interest in gardening. We had plenty of other “must haves” as we selected our home.

Several years later, when I decided to try growing things, I realized we had no good spot to plant. One side of the yard is always shady, and our kids play in the backyard. The other side drops off in a steep slope to the street below, leaving little space at the top. It does, however, provide a great place for terracing, so my accommodating husband built me several raised beds there.

We’ve grown many plants in those beds over the years—tomatoes, blackberries, flowers, and herbs. No matter what grows there, each plant enjoys unhindered access to the sun’s life-giving rays.

What a fitting picture of the way God created us to flourish.

At salvation, He brought us from darkness into the light of His Son’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13). He adopted us into His family and renamed us children of light (Romans 8:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:5). His finished work is our past tense reality.

In the present, His Spirit continually shines His light in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6). He pushes out the darkness which used to be our way of life (1 John 2:8). He causes us to reflect His light more and more (2 Corinthians 3:18). Through our ongoing relationship with Him, we learn to walk as the children of light He says we are (Ephesians 5:18).

One of the clearest proofs of this ongoing process is the love with which we treat one another. In fact, love is so central to our new life that First John says it’s impossible to simultaneously live in God’s light and hate a brother or sister in Christ (1 John 2:9). As God is love, so we, His children, will love one another as we walk in His light (1 John 2:10).

Which all sounds really nice in theory.

Living it out in the everyday, well, that’s an entirely different story.

Some people are easy to love, especially those who’ve been loved well throughout their lives. Others are anything but easy. They wear their wounds on the outside and hurt others because of the hurt they carry with them.

How then do we love when everything in us wants to reject, retaliate, or run away?

Our starting place must always be with Jesus. He loved us first when we were unlovely, his enemies because of our sin (1 John 4:10, Romans 5:8-10). In love, He set aside heaven to step into humanity and pay for our wrongdoing (Philippians 2:5-11). He shone His light in our hearts so we could see His beauty and respond to His grace (2 Corinthians 4:6, Acts 16:14). He forgave our sin—past, present, and future (Hebrews 10:17, Acts 10:43, Colossians 2:13, Psalm 103:12).

He did all this entirely out of His own goodness. Nothing in us merited His affection (Ephesians 2:8-9). He simply loved us and beckoned us to be His own—recipients no longer of wrath, but of mercy (Ephesians 1:4-6).

Because we’ve received this grace, because His love is in our hearts, we can love others (1 John 4:19).

Yet here’s where it’s easy to get off course.

God never calls us to muster up as much niceness as we can, to try hard to hold our tongues, to mask our true feelings behind plastered-on smiles.

No, it isn’t good behavior that pleases God, but faith (Hebrews 11:6). Faith that looks to God’s Spirit as our only Source of love. Faith that recognizes we can’t love anyone on our own the way Jesus does. Faith that surrenders to the God of love and cooperates with His Spirit as He loves others through us (Galatians 2:20).

Faith expressing itself as love—this is what pleases God (Galatians 5:6).

It bears mentioning though, that love, God’s love, often looks different than we think it would. We desperately need His Spirit to guide us in living out His love in the everyday.

Sometimes I’m fed up with being kind and ready to walk away. I want to cut off a relationship and call it boundary-setting. Yet Jesus directs me to forgive . . . again. He tells me that relationships aren’t disposable and reminds me He’s a God of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

Sometimes I fail to speak the truth and say I’m being nice. I avoid conversations in the name of keeping the peace. Yet Jesus reminds me He’s not given me a spirit of timidity, but one of power, love, and of self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). He instructs me to share the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Sometimes I say yes to one more obligation and scold myself when I feel resentment growing inside. I call it self-sacrifice, rather than recognizing it as people-pleasing (Galatians 1:10). Jesus tells me it’s time to practice gracious boundary setting.

God loves us, and He wants to teach us to love well. This can be difficult, but it’s never impossible, because the God of love lives within us through His Holy Spirit. Like a garden thriving in the sun, He causes us to flourish as He shines His light in our lives.

He directs us in how to love, empowers us to show love, and refills us when we feel empty of love.

When we truly believe and experience His love, we can pass on that love to others.

Personal Reflection:

Are you walking in Christ's light, specifically in your relationships? Does faith expressing itself through love characterize your life? Who in your life is the hardest to love? Will you ask God to fill you with His love for that person?

Prayer of Response:

Father, what great love You’ve lavished on me. Thank You for loving me first and for making me Your own. Because You’ve given me Your Spirit, I know I can love others. Teach me how to do this. Continue changing me from the inside out so I look more and more like Jesus. Help me rest in Your love and freely give it away. I love You.