Praising the One Who Causes Both Plants and People to Grow!

Read: 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 3:5-8

Yesterday I went out to check the tomato plants. I was thinking that they might be ready for another watering. Sure enough, the soil was already beginning to dry; so, I doused them well, and there they were. Tiny tomatoes on a couple of the plants. One about the size of a marble and a few little clusters of very small cherry tomatoes. A blessing to have them at all since the plants which have only been in for a bit longer than a month were fairly frail and scrawny when they were put into the pots. I believe that there are many like me who enjoy not only the eating of the ripe tomatoes but watching them grow bit by bit. Even the slightest change in the developing fruit if fun to observe. I never go out to the plants expecting that tiny fruit will have changed overnight into a one-pound tomato; instead, I enjoy the little changes that I observe throughout the growing season.

I was thinking about how people, like plants, also grow, yesterday as I was listening to Dr. Peter Lillback being interviewed. He has written a thorough book concerning George Washington called "George Washington's Sacred Fire." One of the topics discussed was Washington's view concerning slavery. Dr. Lillback was saddened to read an early writing in Washington's own words that showed that at that time in his life, Washington saw slaves as having little value, but wait. Growth happened in George Washington's life. In fact, his thoughts concerning slaves and slavery changed tremendously during his life. So much so that he later believed that slavery should be abolished. George Washington was a theist. Not a deist. He believed that God was involved in the lives of men. He did not believe that God watched from afar, and he looked to the Word of God and grew and changed because he applied it to his own life.

Looking back at the life of our first president, there is much to admire. For example, he could have been crowned as king and ruled over subjects, but he refused to do that. Sometimes when we learn about or see flaws and sins in the lives of people, we forget that growing is in process. It is so easy to get stuck in the weakness or sin that we see. It is so easy to forget the One Who brings about growth. We want to see giant steps, but often, the changes seem almost imperceptible, but can we stand back and remember that God is at work. Changing His people from glory to glory, 2 Corinthians 3:18. What if, with God's enabling, we would rejoice at even small evidences of the fruit of the Spirit in one another's lives? Rather than concentrating on how slow the growth is?

When I look at the plants, I get anxious for that first ripe tomato. I can taste it with seasoned salt or ranch dressing on it. I don't get disgusted at how long it will take, and if the plant is weakened, I try to support it, but I am not the one who enables it to produce. Concerning both plants and people, God is the One Who brings about growth and fruitfulness, 1 Corinthians 3:5-8. Yes, and that includes us. We Who have been born anew, John 3:3 are also growing and changing. Is it sometimes a slow process? Yes, at least for me it is, but why not praise God for His grace and care over us. After all, as we change, even in small ways, we display a bit more of what Jesus is like, Romans 8:29.

Perhaps His patience, holiness or kindness. Like our first president, are there beliefs and attitudes that have been changed through God's patience and power? Yes. Why not remember His grace and thank Him for His work in our lives and in the lives that we observe. Why not enjoy the growth the way we look for those tiny changes in our plants.

Celebrating what God has done.

I love the little song that says:

“He's Still Working on Me...How Loving and Patient He Must Be-For He's Still Working on Me.”