Our current sermon series at the Boise Vineyard is called The Good Soil. It began about seven weeks ago with the pastor acknowledging how frustrating it is to see little change in some members of a congregation, to see believers still caught up in sin, to see people come to Christ but then stay immature in their faith (I’m paraphrasing all of this). It has been a series on how we become planted in the good soil so that we might mature into healthy, thriving followers of Christ.
I came across these verses this morning in my through the New Testament reading (I’m now in Hebrews, still using the NASB version):
We can’t mature if we are still living shallow, worldly lives. We can’t take in solid food if we remain babes in Christ. We have to “practice” our faith daily if we hope to have our senses trained to discern good and evil.
From the devotions for this week, I highlighted the following:
“We are seed-bearing creatures and we will reproduce in others what we carry within our own hearts. Pharisees reproduce Pharisees. Flesh gives birth to flesh. Passionate disciples of Jesus thriving in the good soil of God’s grace and nourished by the generous rain of the Spirit produce other passionate disciples. The fact of life is that every one of us is contagious. The real question is, what is it that others are catching from us?”
It’s my deep desire that others catch a desire to know Jesus in a greater way. It’s my desire that others would “catch grace” from me.
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Heb. 6:11-12)
In the margin of my Bible, I had written some definitions (not sure how long ago I made note of these as I failed to date the entry).
- Hope is “faith focused.”
- Patience is “faithfulness under stress.”
- Faith is “a living channel of trust between God and man.”
Good words to meditate on today as I try to be contagious to those around me, producing a bountiful crop from the good soil.
In the grip of His grace,
Robin
