Insights on Spiritual Growth
“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:8
God didn’t create me with a green thumb. But I have friends who are avid gardeners. They plant tiny seeds and nurture the plants all the way to maturity, each bearing the vegetable or herb or fruit they are supposed to bear. A tomato plant doesn’t sprout okra, or a carrot a potato.
The same is true with us humans. God grants each of us the talents to do the tasks He has appointed us to accomplish. He equips us, nurtures us, pulls the weeds of negativity and sin from around us, and even stakes us so we grow in the correct direction. When we feel parched or hungry, He waters us with His Word, the fellowship of others and worship. In return, we bear the fruit He has deemed us to bear.
It is easy to become envious of someone who seems to be growing faster, taller, or more abundantly. But, if you are called to be a potato quietly growing under the surface don’t wish to be a tomato bursting in bright color and juiciness for all to see. In God’s garden, we are to become what He has made us to become. An old saying states we should “bloom where we are planted.” Our job is to absorb all the nutrients He provides on a daily basis so we become resistant to the things that want to thwart our growth. When the time is ripe, He will walk through the garden and pick us.
Dear God, grow me in the way You wish. Let me yield my crop according to Your will. Thank You that I am significant because You planted me for a purpose. Help me not to compare my growth to others in unhealthy ways. And when the time is right, let me bear the fruit of the Spirit so others may feed on Your Truth. Amen.
Thought: Does your spiritual growth feel slow or stymied lately? Ask God how you can bear more fruit for Him.
By Julie Cosgrove
Used by Permission
Further Reading
• Growing Pains – A devotional on Spiritual Growth by John Fischer
• Slow Down: Work in Progress – Devotional by Marilyn Ehle
• The Balanced Life – by John Grant
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