Simply ChurchНамуна

No One Is Finished Yet

Devotion: 

I know very little about gardening. I know that if I don't mow the lawn, the grass gets longer, and if I don’t pull up the weeds, they take over the flower bed. Fortunately, my dad loves gardening and sees it as his personal responsibility from time to time to come over to my home and ensure the garden is under control.

What I do know is that every living thing grows, but not everything grows strong. Planting seeds isn’t enough; you have to nurture them in a safe environment until they are strong enough to be transplanted from their safe plant pot to the dangers of the outside world.

And the same is true of people who come to faith. As a church community, we are responsible to help people grow in their faith, to keep them safe while they are understanding the basics. But they can’t stay there. Eventually, they have to be sent out into the dangers of the world to put their newfound faith into action.

It’s also true that plants can get stuck in their growth. They get crowded by other plants or affected by the weather, or the ground is no longer giving them the nutrients they need.

The same is true of older Christians. We can get stuck. Crowded by the busy-ness of life, affected by the environment we find ourselves in or the church we are part of is no longer giving us the challenge that we need to keep growing.

“The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love Him better, and learn to love others as He designed.” – Paul Tripp

If a church doesn’t develop its grow-and-go strategy, then it will start sending ill-prepared seedlings into a challenging environment or it will have ageing plants that are creating little or no fruit.

You can tell a lot about a tree by looking at its fruit. You can tell a lot about a person, by looking at their character. Godly character cannot be forced and cannot be faked - it is the work of the Holy Spirit working in us. Rather than looking at our Church leaders and asking, ‘How fruitful is our church?’ we should each be looking closer to home and asking the question ‘How fruitful is my life?’