Gardening and Eternity

Since buying our house, The Amazing Joanne and I have been trying to grow things outside -- some to look at, and some to eat -- with different amounts of success.  It's no secret that our soil needs to be improved (I wrote about that awhile back) and here in Colorado, one of the biggest tricks is knowing when to plant which thing.  But one fact is sure:  to get something to grow, you have to actually plant it. 

Paul knew that was a fact in spiritual life too.  In Galatians 6:7-8, he writes "You cannot fool God, so don't make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life."  He wrote this in the context of selfishness versus generosity, but I think it applies pretty much across the board.

What's important, then, is to find ways to 'follow the Spirit' as a habit -- to put ourselves in the position of being able to hear the Spirit's voice of guidance, so we can respond.  From earliest Christian practice, people have used spiritual tools called "Discipines" to help them hear from the Spirit.  Earlier in Galatians, (5:16) Paul wrote "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves."  In verse 19, he says "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear" and then he goes on to list the kind of sins and addictions that are all around us -- the kind of sins we have all been guilty of!  Then he says "the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."  Which of these lists would you rather have characterize your life?  Whether we like it or not, that will depend on what we invest our time and effort in.

Richard Foster defines some of these spiritual disciplines as "Inward"; that is, dealing with our thoughts:  meditation, prayer, fasting, and study of God's word.  Outward disciplines he notes are:  simplicity, solitude, submission, and service.  Corporate disciplines, those that we can practice together, include confession, worship, guidance, and celebration.  Jesus used spiritual disciplines, and so should we.  I'll be writing on these disciplines as a series, and hope that they will help you as well as me.

What we put in the ground determines what kind of garden we grow.  What we invest our time and energies in, determines the shape of our lives.  I suggest we invest in the disciplines to allow the Spirit to shape our lives in the way he wants to.