Pastor James compares our lives to a garden with God as our landscaper. As we read, we must remember to lay down our selfishness and really listen to what this short passage is saying about the weeds that invade our beauty that God wants to grow in us.
“Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.” James 1, Msg
Weeds of anger, resentment, bitterness can overrun and destroy our garden of right living. Infectious bugs of selfishness, having it our way or the highway, greed, envy and gossip destroy the beauty God, our Landscaper is trying to grow in us. HE is GOD and we are not. Let Him have His way. Let him cut, prune, and pull out all that will kill us so that we can grow stronger, healthier and produce blossoms of beauty for His glory!
A final thought…what would draw you in? A beautiful garden that is flourishing in beauty or a weed infested plot of ugly? It matters to others what we allow God to produce in us. Others will be drawn to the beauty of God in us, our “salvation-garden”. They will be drawn to God.
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this challenge to allow You to landscape our lives and mature us to where You want us to be and do. Do what You must, just pull gently. Cultivate the soil around us so that our roots go deep in your love with mercy and grace. Bring showers of blessings that encourage us along the way. Thank you, Lord, for being our Landscaper, our Gardner who cares enough to do the work in us that is necessary to be healthy, growing and full of love. May others know you, too, in the process! In Jesus Name, Amen
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