“Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so.” Genesis 1:11

“LOOK!!!” she said! Though we live in Florida, the ‘land of flowers,’ we haven’t seen much of them lately. Winter had taken its toll on the pretty posies Katie likes to look at outside her glass door, so that all that remained were leaves. But Then!

A climbing, flowering, viney plant I gave her last summer had lost all it’s flowers. Last week was ‘spring break,’ and we were busy cutting away dead vegetation when I heard her cry out. There, at the end of a stem, hung the start of a flowering bud! And with that little bud came a sign of hope… then a vision!

It didn’t take long for her to get excited to catch the vision. Soon we were at the store buying potting soil, seeds and fertilizer because, with that springing bud came a vision and desire to GROW SOMETHING. The problem is, we’re not even farmers! But something was springing up! Which got me to thinking…

Back “In The Beginning,” God simply said “LET the land produce vegetation.” Which is easy for HIM! Being God, the vegetation business took no work at all. After the fall, a whole new way of farming had to be learned and implemented. Labor and sweat became main ingredients for any backyard garden, and soon, Katie and I were sweating!

The symbolism of garden planting was often used by Jesus for things other than farming. The ability to produce ‘anything’ comes with a cost. To coax an ear of corn out of the ground takes more than just words and ground. Seed, effort, time, feeding and pest control all must be combined before any fruit can come. And it is that way for ANYTHING of value.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows,” points to a universal principle that too often gets forgotten. In order to have a fruitful life, I must plant the seeds and do the work required to REAP that life. Cooperation WITH God is what He expects before a good crop can be harvested.

I can see that this Spring and with the Lenten Season, God is calling and sowing seed in me to produce a crop of SOMETHING He wants the world to see. As the world seems to get more dark and dreary, I think He’s looking for a good example and reason to say… “LOOK!”

What is God growing in YOU?

Live Closer to Home

How Proximity Shapes Responsibility

Article by Scott Hubbard Editor, desiringGod.org

For most of human history, deciding where to devote your day’s attention was relatively simple.

Imagine that you are Adam, waking up in Eden. You rise to the sights and sounds of the garden: a leaning cypress here, a trilling robin there. You turn to Eve, your wife and helper and fellow image-bearer. You think ahead to the day’s work of tending the garden, with more regions to discover and subdue. You breathe gratitude to the God in whom you live and move and have your being. No phone to check, no news to read, no status to update, no email to answer.

Now imagine that you are a typically modern, technological man, waking up in our world of mass communication. Like Adam, you find yourself tied to a particular time and place, with your own near relations and your own patch of ground to cultivate. Unlike Adam, however, your world is exponentially more crowded, with a hundred concerns competing for your attention.

Our anthropology has not changed since Eden — but oh how our technology has. Of all the options available, then, what will get our attention?

Proximity and Responsibility

The question of where to devote your attention is not a totally new one, of course. Even before we could talk across continents and watch 24-hour TV, humans have wrestled with how best to distribute our limited focus. And repeatedly, Christians have articulated a simple principle, drawn from Scripture: proximity heightens responsibility.

In his book Reading the Times, Jeffrey Bilbro quotes Augustine: “All people should be loved equally. But you cannot do good to all people equally, so you should take particular thought for those who, as if by lot, happen to be particularly close to you in terms of place, time, or any other circumstances” (31). Similarly, John Calvin notes that since human ambition “longs to embrace various things at once,” every person has objective callings “assigned to him by the Lord as a sort of sentry post so that he may not heedlessly wander about throughout life” (Institutes 3.10.6).

Before Augustine or Calvin, however, the apostles distinguished degrees of responsibility in our varying relationships. Like a pebble dropped into a pond, we are each surrounded by concentric circles. In the nearest circles live our natural household and spiritual household (1 Timothy 5:8; Acts 2:45), followed by our neighbors and more remote Christian family (Galatians 6:10; 2 Corinthians 8–9). Further still dwell our distant non-Christian neighbors.

The principle admits exceptions, and we should beware of becoming like the lawyer who sought to redefine neighbor within bounds suitable to the flesh (Luke 10:29). “Proximity heightens responsibility” does not justify callousness to distant miseries, for example. But it does warn us against fixing our gaze on faraway vineyards while foxes devour our own (Proverbs 17:24; Song of Solomon 2:15).

Among the world’s billions, a few people are “particularly close to you.” And more than those farther off, they deserve your “particular thought.”

Who Needs Your Attention?

One question may help us apply the principle with greater clarity: Who needs your attention?

Many of the people and concerns to which we give our attention do not, in fact, need it — as evidenced by the fact that they will never know they had it. Celebrities and sports stars do not need our attention. Foreign dictators do not need our attention. Most high-school friends on social media do not need our attention. We may still decide sometimes to give them our attention, but whether we do or not, they likely will neither know nor care.

“Withdrawing our attention from Twitter will go unnoticed; withdrawing our attention from our kids will not.”

Meanwhile, we can easily pass by those who do need our attention — those people who would genuinely be worse off without our focused, warmhearted care: our spouses and children, church members and neighbors, friends and coworkers. Withdrawing our attention from Twitter will go unnoticed; withdrawing our attention from our kids will not. Far more than the far-off, those near us need our attention.

And for the typical busy person, chances are high that our nearest relationships need not just some of our attention (the day’s leftover minutes), but all that we can reasonably give. Few wives flourish under a half-attentive husband. Few children feel cherished by a distracted dad. Few small groups thrive with kind-of-committed members. And few jobs succeed under a slack hand. Whatever the relationship, caring well for those closest to us calls for our concerted focus — and our concerted refusal to give that focus elsewhere.

Three Practices for Proximity

If we live within our limits, prioritizing the near over the far, we may need to die some small deaths. But if we prioritize the far over the near, the people around us will need to. How, then, might we devote our far-flung focus closer to home? Consider three areas of life where we might practice the principle of proximity.

Prayer: From Near to Far

If we want to remember our main responsibilities each day, we may do no better than to remember them before God each morning. Before you turn on your phone, and fly to circles far away, take hold of your nearest, dearest concerns, and place them before your Father.

In his book Dynamics of Spiritual Life, Richard Lovelace writes,

If all regenerate church members in Western Christendom were to intercede daily simply for the most obvious spiritual concerns visible in their homes, their workplaces, their local churches and denominations, their nations, and the world and the total mission of the body of Christ within it, the transformation which would result would be incalculable. (160)

“Where your prayers are, there your attention and affection will be also.”

Note that praying in concentric circles doesn’t keep us from interceding for national or global issues. The practice just ensures that we begin where we are, that we spend time at home before traveling abroad.

The transformation from such a practice may indeed be incalculable — not only in the answers that would follow, but in the posture of heart and mind that would be formed. For where your prayers are, there your attention and affection will be also.

Time: Budgeting Our Days

Many budget beginners are astonished to discover where their money actually goes every month. How did they spend $50 on coffee or $150 on clothes? As they begin reallocating their dollars, they may realize they were less cash-strapped than they thought: they were just spending their money in the wrong places.

No doubt, many of us would discover something similar if we paid more attention to where our time goes. Who or what deserves little of our time but gets a lot? Who or what deserves a lot of our time but gets a little? As we begin reallocating our hours, we might also realize that we weren’t as time-strapped as we thought: we were just spending our moments in the wrong places.

What if we took some of our time reading the news and used it to pray for our small group? What if, when we felt an urge to check email, we texted an accountability partner instead? What if we turned a desire to post something online into an opportunity to pen a note to a neighbor?

Either way, consider giving your time the same way God calls you to give your money (Proverbs 3:9): the first and best goes to your nearest circles; anything remaining becomes discretionary time.

News: History Without Headlines

If he wanted, the apostle Paul surely could have filled his letters with news from the empire. He could have offered hot takes on current events or mentioned the latest controversy in Ephesus. Instead, he spends most of his time speaking into local needs and local relationships: he wants the church at Colossae to really be the church at Colossae (Colossians 1:2). And when he does mention news, he focuses on events rarely mentioned in high places: the gospel’s advance through his missionary labors. As he tells the Colossians, “Tychicus will tell you all about my activities” (4:7).

History’s greatest events rarely make the headlines. For the main thing happening in the world is not the rise and fall of nations, or the election of presidents, or the changing of the climate, or man’s exploits into space. The main story in the world is how Jesus is building his church, and how the gates of hell are falling before it (Matthew 16:18).

We enter this story in our nearby circles, as we bring the grace and good news of Jesus to our families, friends, neighbors, and workplaces. And we enter this story in the more distant circles of frontier churches, bound to us by the same blood. So why not curate our daily news accordingly?

Circles of Life

We no longer live in a world as simple as Eden. Adam had no choice but to devote himself to his surroundings; we can surround ourselves (at least digitally) with almost anything we want.

But we still walk through the world as Adam’s children, finite as our first father. We are limited creatures, bound to a place and time, with less attention, energy, and emotion than we sometimes want to admit. We cannot be everywhere always; we can’t even be two places at once. And those who try often end up being nowhere at all.

The distant life can feel desirable, an escape from the monotony of the present moment. But in the beginning, God spoke a benediction over these limited bodies (Genesis 1:28, 31), and in the incarnation he crowned finiteness with his eternal approval (Colossians 2:9). And so we may also find that the circles God gives are gateways to life: the happy and human life for which he made us.

Scott Hubbard is an editor for Desiring God, a pastor at All Peoples Church, and a graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Bethany, live with their two sons in Minneapolis.

Reading John 3:21 this morning, I felt pulled into it more deeply to figure out what God was trying to tell me.  Take a look:

‘But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

THEN I found THIS devotional!’  Ya think He’s trying to tell us something? After all, I sensed He wanted me to share it with YOU. So… what is it?

“And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.” Phil 2:16b

Paul is looking forward to the great day when time will be rolled up as the dawn and cast aside, and all the fruit of Christian labor will be made visible-when all the gold, silver and precious stones that result from Christ at work in us will be gathered up and displayed. All of the wood, hay and stubble that results from our self-effort for him will be burned. Christ’s steadfast continuing work in you is your holding fast to the word of life, and this is what will result in praise and rejoicing in that day. Regardless of the circumstances or the praise of men or whether there are immediate results, continue, hold fast-don’t give up! Then Paul says when I see the results of your faith my heart will swell with pride because I’ll know I’ve not helped you in vain.

Looking on to his impending death Paul says, even if I am being poured like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith. Even if that should occur, if I should know that you are holding fast to the indwelling Christ, I will die with gladness and joy in my heart. If you hear I have died that way, you too can rejoice and be glad. This is the ground of Christian rejoicing — a refreshing, fruitful life, pouring out rivers of living water to others, conditioned upon unrelenting reliance upon the indwelling Lord Jesus.

We read in Hebrews 12:2 of our Lord, who For the joy set before him … endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. What was the joy that was set before him? It was his glorious expectation that into the lives of men and women who were being blasted and ruined, torn apart and disintegrated by sin, and rebellion, his healing life would enter. He would integrate all of life and bring focus and perspective, and call men back to all the expected fruitfulness of the Christian life. Anticipating what his life would accomplish, and knowing he would be reunited with his father, he endured the cross. He poured out his blood as a drink offering upon our faith, and is now seated victorious on the throne on high.

When we come to the Lord’s table, we celebrate this drink offering poured out for us. He emptied himself that we might have him in us, the source of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control-the fruit of his Spirit. This is the underlying principle of Christian living, the self-giving love poured out on behalf of another. How beautifully it is exemplified in the life of Paul. It is only possible as we reckon on Christ’s life within both to will and to do of his good purpose.

Lord Jesus, you have poured out your life for me. Help me to endure whatever you have in store for me, knowing that your purpose is to display your very life to me, and thereby to those around me.

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries. For permission to use this content, please review RayStedman.org/permissions. Subject to permission policy, all rights reserved.

I wanted to give you a little snippet to keep your faith growing up.  Some folks have wondered and asked, “What will it be like when Jesus comes back?”  Well… How about THIS?  Even good meat and wine!  May you have a blessed day… Whose banner is flying above YOUR life?

The Triumph Is Sure by John Piper

Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. (Isaiah 25:3)

Isaiah sees the day coming when all the nations — representatives from all the people groups — will no longer be at odds with Yahweh, the God of Israel and his Messiah, whom we know to be Jesus.

They will no longer worship Bel or Nebo or Molech or Allah or Buddha or utopian social programs or capitalistic growth possibilities or ancestors or animistic spirits. Instead they will come in faith to the banquet on God’s mountain.

And they will have the veil of sorrow removed and death shall be swallowed up and the reproach of God’s people will be removed and tears shall be gone forever.

That’s the setting for understanding the vision of Isaiah 25:3: “Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.” In other words, God is stronger than the “strong peoples” and he is so powerful and so gracious that in the end he will turn ruthless nations to revere him.

So the picture Isaiah gives us is one of all nations turned to God in worship, a great banquet for all the peoples, the removal of all suffering and grief and reproach from the nations, who have become his people, and the final putting away of death forever.

This triumph is sure because God is doing it. Therefore we can be certain of it.

Not one life spent in the cause of world evangelization is spent in vain. Not one prayer or one dollar or one sermon or one letter of encouragement or one little light shining in some dark place — nothing in the cause of this advancing kingdom is in vain.

The triumph is sure!

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:8

I saw them yesterday, and the day before etc, etc! My neighbors, that is! And they were BUSY tearing up the backyard to plant some sort of garden. Which is EXACTLY what the PREVIOUS neighbor did… then moved away! I wondered what they would plant!

The last neighbor was only a renter. This new couple are the current owners. I’m not sure what kind of difference that makes when gardening, as only time will tell. But when the renter started working on the garden area, the amount of time and effort that went into it was WAY over what was required. Special landscaping boundaries in unique shapes seemed to be the focus.

I can look back and tell you the renter’s story better than I can the new owners. When the garden was done and became plants, what he grew… were flowers! While I am not qualified to judge posies, I didn’t think they were even that pretty, since I’ve seen better. I DO know that when the next season for planting came up, renter didn’t even bother to show!

John 15:1 says that God is a Gardener! Being made in His image, AND given the charge to ‘go and grow,’ it isn’t surprising that ‘I’ am called to be in the planting and reaping business too. When Jesus came to Earth, He came with a message reiterating His Father’s original ‘Family Plan.’ John 15 tells me what that is.

God is in the Gardening business. He wants and expects FRUIT from His garden. And while I may not be exactly SURE what kind of plant He wants ME to give birth to, I AM sure that whatever fruit it is, I’d better be baring it at the end of me! SO I am motivated!

To be sure, I looked up the definitions. Bearing, in this case, means to GIVE BIRTH TO. Baring means to SHOW! BOTH will be used, either for or against me, on a Day that I should be looking forward to! Since God DOESN’T plant junk, He DOES expect GOOD fruit all the time! My bearing fruit here, and barring it, will either make Him smile… or not!  Which is something to think about!

SOW…. According to God… how ‘fruity’ are YOU?

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

“Where do I go NOW?” I thought. I thought about it because I genuinely didn’t KNOW! It wasn’t like I could look around the room for advice either, since Dickie was the only other guy there. And HE’S no help at all when it comes to communication, or direction. He just lays there! Which at the moment, wasn’t giving me direction since HE was the REASON I was in the room.

Dickie is special to me and our Church. The 74 year old man with Cerebral Palsy lay twisted in a ball on the bed in front of me. Sometimes moaning, crying, laughing or trying to tell me something. I could understand only the first 2. I had read the Bible to him, prayed, made small talk, and even told him some jokes. I talked about courage and his future Hope. 45 minutes later… I had nothing and felt like a fool!

Leaning over him I put my face 8 inches from his. We locked eyes and I just let him know the truth. “Pal… I really love you, but I just don’t know what to do or say right now. But my heart aches and, if I did, I would.” My last prayer felt like it didn’t even hit the ceiling. Then, having another appointment, I left. As I reached the door I looked back… he was watching me.

There are times I feel SO very small. Though I have never captained a ship, reality says otherwise.  AND… reality tells me that I am NO expert! If my life is a ship, I must admit, I spend MOST of the time in the fog! Looking around, it’s getting foggier! Bravely going into Dickie’s room thinking I might help left me feeling helpless. I hate helpless!

When the real world reached the parking lot, Jesus caught up with me. Remembering a story about leaving the 99 to find the lost one, it hit me I was him. I shoulda known He’d be there. And while His presence did nothing to make me FEEL better, He DID help! TREMENDOUSLY! He helped me to see once more, that ‘I’ am NOT the Captain of my own ship!

There’s an old saying from a wise man who stated, “in my life I have learned 2 things: 1. There IS a God And 2. I am not Him.” With His hand on my heart and His eyes on me, Jesus reminds me of the fact that “HE IS” And that seeing, knowing and understanding everything is NOT part of my job description. It never will be! The best I will ever do in a fog will be to lean in close, and look deep into His face. He’ll manage the rest!  Dickie didn’t need advice!  He just needed a friend!

How close are YOU to the Captain?

“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” 1 Corinthians 2:12

AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! I never thought it’d come down to this, but there I was. Having been a loyal Sprint customer forever, THEY SOLD ME OUT! Now T-Mobile was moving into my world and if I wanted to use my phone, I had to replace my ‘Subscriber Identity Module,’ or SIM card! And it wasn’t going very well.

What started off as a simple, “Oh I can do THAT!” turned into “SHE’S BREAKING -UP SHE’S BREAKING UP!” Texting by way of chat, the representative was very patient as the SIM card AND storage module kept falling out. When I finally shoved it in, I read “DO NOT FORCE!” But it was too late! Working carefully, I finally was able to get it unstuck. Which meant trying all over AGAIN!

The problem was that the parts are small and my eyes aren’t what they used to be. Add to it that the lighting was pretty bad, and you can get the picture. I just could not understand why it was so difficult. I even watched the video 6 times! But then, I noticed something on the seventh. In the video, he turned the phone UPSIDE DOWN, but hadn’t made that clear! My misunderstanding came from a tired old brain combined with a terrible teacher!

Someone recently told me that they were shocked to hear God actually TALK to them! Not in an audible voice, but in HIS voice. That silent affirmation ‘you KNOW that you KNOW that you KNOW’ voice! But to hear Him, they confirmed that they had to be willing to learn AND to pay attention. A double edged sword is dangerous and powerful.

God is not a poor instructor. I, the STUDENT, am that one that is defective. I have found that when I humbly and willfully get myself out of the way, the process of getting close to Him is both JOYFUL and fulfilling. In other words, the greatest enemy to snuggling up to the Master of the Universe… is ME! I must take out the old me, and input the new! With new eyes too!

When I received Jesus as my Savior, I received a NEW ‘Subscriber Identity Module’ and, a whole new way of doing things expected by the new provider. THANKFULLY He is VERY patient. But sometimes TOO patient. I will ONLY be able to get the most out of my new identity when I listen and obey. I REALLY want my phone, and my life, to be more than a paper weight!

What does YOUR SIM Card lead YOU to do?

“Then Jesus cried out, ‘Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.'” John 12:44-45

UGHHHH!!!!! What NEVER happened growing up, now happens ALL the time! And it just happened… AGAIN! Going online to a website, It prompted me for my User ID and Password! Which is a safe and effective way to win my business! Except that… I FORGOT MINE!

It might not have worried or bothered me as much as it did. But THIS site was my BANK! I recently acquired a new computer and it hasn’t quite learned that we are pals! When logging into a usual location, this computer looks like an alien. “I” have to be the one to make the introduction so that when THEIR computer meets MY computer, THEY see ME! Capeesh?

Normally when someone sees me, I am recognized by my face. No one on earth looks EXACTLY like me! If there is ever a squabble, a fingerprint or eye scan can confirm… WITH the right equipment. But I have over 50 user ID’s and passwords! And even ‘I’ can’t remember them all! To top it off, some sites REQUIRE special characters for any access!

But there is ONE password that I will NEVER forget. And I’m praying that anyone reading this doesn’t either. Because there is coming a time and a place where FORGETTING won’t even give me a HINT. When I am standing at the gates of Heaven, there will be only 1 question that will allow my entrance… “Why should YOU be allowed in HERE?” In other words… “PASSWORD PLEASE!”

By the time I get there it will NOT be possible to forget. Because it is a password I am required to use here EVERYDAY… ALL DAY! Only ONE word can get me past sin, guilt, resentment, anger, fear, loathing, selfishness and hate. Only ONE word… gets me past ALL of it. He even GIVES ME A HINT!!! Because He ‘IS’ The Word! THE PASS-WORD IS “JESUS!”!

Today’s verse is clear. To know Jesus is to know God. To know God is to know Jesus! EVERYTHING He said and did was to show, or confirm that fact. If you don’t understand, read the whole chapter! And if I DO understand, I NEVER need worry about access… EVER!

Sooooooo…… do YOU know The Password? And….. are you sure?

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” Romans 15:4

BANG!!!! My grandson has a new hobby which happily includes me, since I introduced him to it. Every week we get together at an appointed time and place where he gets lessons on how to safely and properly shoot a .22 pistol. At the age of 10, he loves the fact that he is doing something other boys his age can’t or don’t do. And THAT desire is too big to not take advantage of!

There are skills that EVERYONE should learn and master in order to grow up to be something other than a meathead! In my opinion, skills like manners and how to communicate with others are essential. So Cash’s desire to shoot provides opportunity to teach him other things. So I take advantage of his desire to add other vital life lessons into the mix… since I have his attention!

Cash is coming along just fine. He is learning how to meet, greet, talk and communicate with other people at the range, and they all love him. He also is required to write a paper on any subject he chooses, 5 days a week. He is very good at coming up with ideas and putting them to paper. We’re currently working on his aim AND on writing introductions!

Teaching is something best done when the DESIRE to learn is there. A dictator uses fear and intimidation to create a desire in people to do what he says. Though fear can be a motivator that works temporarily, I have learned that positive reinforcement is the better teaching method of great teachers… like Jesus!

A friend is helping me with Cash, and he came up with an idea he calls ‘Cash for Cash!’ In his plan, Cash gets rewarded for shooting bulls-eyes at the end of his lessons. The only drawback is that “I” have to pay him the money when he does well! This leads me to ask myself just how much am ‘I’ INVESTED in Cash’s success? Today’s Bible verse reinforces Jesus’ investment in ME.

Jesus not only created the word (the Bible) … he IS ‘The Word.’ And He created me with a purpose in mind. If I take His Word to heart and apply it, He tells me that I can POSITIVELY EXPECT to learn endurance, encouragement and have hope. In a world that aims to overrun Godly values with immoral selfishness, Jesus asks me to join Him in Teaching them His better way!

Are YOU invested in His teachings and are YOU aiming to spread his Word of encouragement and hope?