Planted. Growing?

Grace is the seed planted,
That is stirred to life by the Son,
That crashes open in the life of the believer,
As the shell of the old man is broken and torn apart,
By the new spirit and life that grows within.

Emotion can imitate grace,
Because there is a stirring,
Because there is a momentary interruption,
But the old man is not willing to tear his life apart,
And the trials prove that there is no life yet growing within.

Religious practice can imitate grace,
Because even though there is no stirring,
There is a building up of preparations,
And the old man tries to tear himself apart,
But is only deceiving himself under his own striving.

But grace received,
That wonderful annointing of the Holy Spirit,
That pours out abundantly and overflowing into the believer,
It sprouts forward in growth, in life, in hope, in faith, and in love,
And Christ can be seen shining through a new vessel,
Speaking through a new voice,
Rejoicing through new praises raised to God,
Worshiping through new acts of service at the feet of our fellow man.

You see,
The seed of grace,
It is meant to grow up into the glory of Christ.
Christ in you.
It is not powerless, but is powerful,
It is not impotent, but is full of love,
It is not enslaved to sin, but it is full of self control.
Grace alive is God’s glory growing and spreading,
And it starts in you and like the seed and pollen of a plant,
It spreads forth when it is present.
It cannot remain dead and dormant and lifeless,
It overflows hope and love for a lost world thirsting,
It overflows with righteousness and trust for the found saints hungering.

Grace is extended not as the completion,
But as the beginning of a journey towards glory.
The call to grow is the moment of the beginning of our journey,
Marked by repentance, confession, water, and blood,
And carried to its destination through hope, faith, and love,
And this life is either our living testimony or our dying testimony,
Of the destination that we are being prepared for.

Let the manure of that old man, of our flesh,
be sacrificed and left as fertilizer at the feet of the new creation.
Let us not just claim Grace, but realize Glory.
Let us not only claim Jesus Christ as Savior,
But proclaim Him as Lord over our lives,
Surrendering our will and plans and purposes and desires,
For the only prize and portion worth having.

Do you love Jesus’s Lordship as well as his Salvation?

Is His love alive in you today?

Are you ready to hand over your life to follow Him?

Do you love Jesus?

LOVE Him?

Or has the tale of the cross and the tomb grown dim and distant and forgotten in your heart?

Lord, breathe life into these dead bones. Heal our hardened hearts. Help us to fall at your feet and repent of our ungratefulness, of our empty religious practice, and of our complacency in the face of a world that is lost and headed to destruction along the broad way. Teach us to love again. Awaken the seed of your Grace, so that the world might know of your Glory. Amen.