May 13

“Their interest in self is gone, transferred into the hands of God.  Christ alone is their all in all.  The blessed result is that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as these will be.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 5/13

Hannah is talking about the person who is not concerned about his spiritual growth, but only that he abides in Christ.  This is one of those subtle ways in which Self used to keep me engaged.  Not realizing the difference I got it turned around and felt driven to focus on my spiritual growth in order that I may abide in Christ.  All this served to do is encourage me to hone my judging skills that I then freely practiced on others as well.  The problem with judging yourself is that it either leads you into pride or into self-punishment, neither of which have anything to do with spiritual growth.  It’s like digging a hole for a plant and then setting the plant on top of the ground next to the hole.  You expend a lot of energy and your plant dies, and you are left wondering why all that effort produced no results.  So as my gardening season begins I will remind myself that I am the garden and God is the Gardener.  My job is to lay myself bare before Him and let Him do the planting and the tending.  I am to abide in His loving care and receive the fertilizer and the cultivating that freshens and nourishes my soil so that when He puts in my seed, I will grow and bear much fruit.

“But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”  Mark 4:20