AFTER OUR OWN KIND
Genesis 1:11-24
It is the second most exciting time of the year for gardeners! The seed catalogues are here!
It's the time of year when we dream of our gardens for the season to come. My dreams always exceed my resources, in both space and energy, but this never inhibits me from envisioning a utopia of flowers and veggies.
This year, though, my seed catalogues had me thinking of more than just that first ripe tomato. As I leafed through the beautiful pictures, I fully understood Genesis 1:11-24 for the first time; all things reproduce after their own kind. Tomatoes beget tomatoes; peppers beget peppers. Pumpkins beget pumpkins.
Tomato seeds never become pumpkin plants and pumpkin fruits. It never happens. We never expect it to! In fact, if we plant a picture packet of tomato seeds and get thistles, we know that the seeds were mislabeled. We never even look for any other explanation, because we are certain that things always reproduce after their own kind. The laws of nature require it: what you are is what you will give birth to.
Likewise, we as Christians can reproduce only after our own kind. Joyful, loving fruits generate joyful, loving seedlings. Spirit-filled Christians bring about spirit-filled converts. Grateful, loving Christians beget other grateful, loving Christians. Envious, gossipy Christians spawn envious, gossipy progeny. Resentful, angry Christians never create gracious, grateful disciples. This also happens because the laws of nature require it. You cannot bring about spiritual offspring different from your own nature.
So I have to ask myself what kind of seedlings are being produced from my fruits. Have the people I have led to, or discipled in the Lord matured into good fruits? Or have I reproduced less desirable traits?
If the answer isn't good, I must admit that it's my own bad characteristics that are at fault. I can only reproduce after my own kind. I need to have a good nature in order to produce a good crop.
God and I must continue His good work of perfecting me, so that His traits become integral to my own character and thus I can pass them on.
(But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22 -23)
Genesis 1:11-24
It is the second most exciting time of the year for gardeners! The seed catalogues are here!
It's the time of year when we dream of our gardens for the season to come. My dreams always exceed my resources, in both space and energy, but this never inhibits me from envisioning a utopia of flowers and veggies.
This year, though, my seed catalogues had me thinking of more than just that first ripe tomato. As I leafed through the beautiful pictures, I fully understood Genesis 1:11-24 for the first time; all things reproduce after their own kind. Tomatoes beget tomatoes; peppers beget peppers. Pumpkins beget pumpkins.
Tomato seeds never become pumpkin plants and pumpkin fruits. It never happens. We never expect it to! In fact, if we plant a picture packet of tomato seeds and get thistles, we know that the seeds were mislabeled. We never even look for any other explanation, because we are certain that things always reproduce after their own kind. The laws of nature require it: what you are is what you will give birth to.
Likewise, we as Christians can reproduce only after our own kind. Joyful, loving fruits generate joyful, loving seedlings. Spirit-filled Christians bring about spirit-filled converts. Grateful, loving Christians beget other grateful, loving Christians. Envious, gossipy Christians spawn envious, gossipy progeny. Resentful, angry Christians never create gracious, grateful disciples. This also happens because the laws of nature require it. You cannot bring about spiritual offspring different from your own nature.
So I have to ask myself what kind of seedlings are being produced from my fruits. Have the people I have led to, or discipled in the Lord matured into good fruits? Or have I reproduced less desirable traits?
If the answer isn't good, I must admit that it's my own bad characteristics that are at fault. I can only reproduce after my own kind. I need to have a good nature in order to produce a good crop.
God and I must continue His good work of perfecting me, so that His traits become integral to my own character and thus I can pass them on.
(But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22 -23)
