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Written by Chuck Nichols
We love gardening! Not only is it a fun and productive hobby, it also helps us understand more about the life of growth God has called us to.
My wife, Leigh, and I love to spend time in our gardens. It’s just like therapy for us. It’s a time to get into God’s creation and appreciate the wonderful things He has made for us. We just love digging in the dirt!
I am always asking Leigh what fertilizer, soil conditioner or mulching we need to add. She is the avid reader of gardening books, so I look to her for advice. Sometimes we might add some bloom fertilizer, sometimes a little all-purpose fertilizer and sometimes a fertilizer made specifically for the vegetable or fruit that we are growing. I am learning, albeit slowly, but learning!
We have blueberry and blackberry plants that we love. I have noticed that the blueberries and blackberries don’t all ripen at the same time. I think that’s great, since we’d have too many at one time. We get to go to the garden several times a week and eat them right off the vine or bush. What a joy! And just the other night, I was surprised with a blueberry and blackberry cobbler! With vanilla ice cream! It just doesn’t get any better than that!
The Master Gardener
It struck me that God’s Church—His firstfruits—are in a garden also—God’s garden.
God is our Master Gardener. He cares for us every day. What does He do?
God plants us in good soil
For us to grow, God, our Master Gardener, plants us in good soil, which He then tends, works and fertilizes so that we may bear fruit (Mark 4:20 and Luke 13:6-9).
God fertilizes us
Yes, for us to grow, we need to be fertilized from time to time. We need the proper types of experiences to learn from to help us grow, to help us build character, to help us better relate effectively with others in their trials, to develop the fruit that is borne of God’s Spirit working in us.
We are given good times to laugh, sad times to mourn. Times to prosper and times to know loss. Times of happiness, times of grief and trials.
With all of life’s experiences, God leads us along the right path, helping us grow. We know that all of these experiences work together for our good, because we love God and are the called (the firstfruits) according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
God waters us
For us to grow and produce the fruits of righteousness and godly character (Galatians 5:22-23), we must be watered. God has given us His gift of living water, the Holy Spirit. With this wonderful gift to refresh us, to empower and strengthen us, we shall never thirst; and this water will become in us a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life (John 4:10, 14).
In His time
I mentioned earlier that the blackberries and blueberries don’t all ripen at the same time. Well, neither do we, God’s firstfruits. We are so different from each other, aren’t we? We all have been given various talents, personalities and abilities. We all move along at our own pace. God knows this—He made us! We must understand this too.
So, we are at various stages of growth in the process of preparing for God’s Kingdom. We must be patient and longsuffering, knowing that God will see us through—in His time.
As we ripen, we can have much inner joy. The excitement grows! We await that moment at Christ’s return when we will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. … Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:21).
Our time to be harvested is closer than ever before.
Grow in His garden!
Chuck Nichols and his wife, Leigh, attend the Birmingham, Alabama, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.
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