Planting Good Seeds

 

Proverbs 4:23(NLT) is one of those simple verses in the Bible that packs a tremendous amount of wisdom for living. It tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Everything we do flows from the heart and everything that comes back to us is a byproduct of what we’re putting out there. That’s a whole lot of truth to digest in one bite, and to be honest, most have a tough time swallowing it. The reason that we have a difficult time with this truth is because it presses us to look in the mirror and examine exactly what it is that we’re putting into God’s universe every moment of each day. In the course of our examination, we don’t get to point the finger at the Lord and blame Him for the predicaments we find ourselves in. We have to look at ourselves and be accountable for the energy, attitude, words, and thoughts that flow from our hearts.

The things we pray about are generally blessings we believe to be very important to living the fullest existence we can live. We want to be blessed, happy, and fulfilled, and we want the same for those we care about. When it appears to us that this is not coming together in the way we hope, it isn’t because God doesn’t hear our prayers or that He has given us a big fat “NO!” He wants everyone to be blessed way more than we could ever desire it.

In Genesis 1:26, we learn that we are created in God’s image, and that He’s given us the earth as training ground to learn about His love and become more like His Son, our Big Brother, Jesus Christ. He’s placed us inside of time and because of this we have the benefits of knowledge and history, and the will to choose who we will become. We choose whose side we’re going to be on, light or darkness.

So, the benefit of knowledge and history aid our learning and our ability to make an informed choice. They also ground our faith in God’s goodness and prepare us for the future He’s destined. One of the lessons we should learn very quickly is that growing in Christ is God’s number one priority for our lives. This means that the contents of our hearts and minds are very important to Him; because the contents of our hearts and minds demonstrate how close we are to the example of our Big Brother, or how far we are from it.

God has commanded us to get rid of our old nature, the nature we had before Christ came to live in our hearts. This ‘old nature’ was corrupt and filled with darkness. The Lord has commanded us in Colossians 3:10(NLT) to “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” We received this new nature when we accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts. And when he came to live in our hearts, he brought the potential to be like him, but it’s up to us. He didn’t go in there and start shoving all the bad stuff out and putting the good stuff in. No. He said to us, “You do it. I won’t violate the free-will decision-making that God gave you. Because you’ve accepted me, my Spirit lives in you and will help you get rid of the baggage if you allow him.”

You may be thinking, “Gee, I wish the Lord would do all my internal housekeeping. It would make things so much easier.” Well, God didn’t create us to be robots. He created us in His image, and He then sent His Son to show us what to do and how to do it. Jesus Christ revealed the heart of God. He showed us how to live a life of love. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that he’s the author and finisher of our faith. He did more than write the book; he IS the book!

Through Christ, we learn that we are here on this earth to make some things happen for God’s Kingdom. God’s not going to do this stuff for us, because His Law decrees that humans do all the administering and managing on earth, and God never breaks His laws. Jesus Christ tells us in John 15:4 that we must take our queue from him and produce fruit, because this is the whole reason we were created. Our Father creates through His love, and we produce through the resources of His power, which is the faith and love of Jesus Christ. Producing through Jesus Christ is the only way, because he said in John 14:6, “I’m the way, I’m the truth, and I’m the life. The only way to get to the Father is through me.”

We produce fruit! And we all know that fruit is produced from a seed. The ground where seeds are planted is the human heart. You and I are responsible for the seed that we allow to be planted in our hearts, and we’re responsible for what takes root there. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 12:35(NLT), “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.” So, as we look around and see all the madness, confusion, and chaos, we can be sure that the condition of the corporate human heart can stand a great deal of housekeeping. The truth of this is not aimed to spearhead condemnation, but liberty. When we know better, we can do better.

We shouldn’t add to the darkness of what we see. Instead, we must introduce light. The place to begin is in our own hearts, to look at what we’re producing and take ownership. Jesus Christ tells us straightforwardly that through him, we have access to his faith and love, and it will only harvest the good stuff. Therefore, we should only allow in our hearts the nourishment that feeds love and faith. We are responsible for doing as Proverbs 4:23 tells us, which is to guard our hearts above ALL else, because the heart determines what comes back to us. Let’s pray for divine guidance and correction from God as He teaches and helps us through His Spirit to put good stuff out there, so only good stuff comes back. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

“Planting Good Seeds” by Alexandra Copeland © 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.