Have you ever seen such a beautiful …
shade tree?
“That’s not a shade tree!” some would say. I beg to differ. It is; it is just not yet mature. There is an old adage: “The best time to plant a shade tree is twenty five years ago.” This means that it takes time to grow.
In its present form, this is only an acorn. When it is mature, it will be an incredible, massive, towering, full, majestic oak tree. It is not a shade to anyone right now. It is really not even a benefit to anyone. It cannot be eaten. No one can sit under its branches. It is not inspiring to view. But it will be … one day.
This is a lot like us. We are right now immature, carnal, selfish, shallow, and altogether not what we will be one day. Like this acorn, though immature now, we will one day be the mature, wise, discerning, strong, compassionate, encouraging Believers God has for us to be. Others can come to our shade and rest in God’s peace and presence by virtue of His Spirit in us.
In today’s Scripture passage, Peter admonishes us to set Jesus apart in our spirit as Lord. We can say it well enough. We can even mean it. Our actions, however, reveal just how immature and far from that objective we are in reality. So, what do we do with this? How do we reconcile our present immaturity with what we say we are?
By acknowledging Jesus as Lord in our lives, we acknowledge that we are in the PROCESS of Him becoming our Lord–and this is the key. Though this may be a bit mind-bending, understand: God already sees what we have yet to become.
From our perspective, our process will one day be complete. From His, it has already happened. He sees the beautiful tree that acorn will become. He sees the mature ones we will become. This is certain because God is Omniscient (all-knowing), which means there is nothing He does not know. If He had to wait to see what we would become, there would be something He does not know, and therefore, He would not be Omniscient.
When you acknowledge that Jesus is your Lord, you are doing so in faith because we all have a way to go in our process. Like the acorn, you are not yet what you will be. None of us are. We will never fully be so in this life. You are acknowledging that God is in the process of making you into something more than you are now.
I encourage you today to give yourself GRACE to become what God is making you to be. It would be as foolish of you to expect yourself to be fully mature in God right now as it would be for the acorn to expect itself to be a 300 year old oak tree. It still has 299 years to go. We still have a long way to go too.
Give yourself that grace because God has already given it to you. Give others that grace also. If you expect perfection from them you will be disappointed because we ALL have a long way to go. As long as you keep looking to Jesus, submitting to Him, and making Him the Lord of your life moment by moment despite your immaturity and failures, you will get there.
God will one day say to you, “I saw that.” And He did … before you were even born (Jeremiah 1:5).
Today’s Seed™ Scripture and Prayer for May 25, 2023:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Pet 3:15-16 NIV)
Prayer: LORD, though I can easily say You are Lord of my life, I do not always make You Lord of my life in spirit and action. Sometimes it is because of weakness or ignorance, other times because of willfulness. I want to become more mature in You in our relationship and learn how to let You be Lord of ALL my life. Do whatever You need to do to make it so. Thank You for Your patience with me in the process. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
(c) 2023 Randall Vaughn • All Rights Reserved • http://www.e-min.org
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‘Today’s Seed’ from E-MIN • May 25, 2023
About Randall Vaughn:
With 40+ years as pastor, author, teacher, worship leader, and songwriter, Randall pioneered E-MIN in 1997–one of the earliest online ministries and today the longest operating. His passion is leading people to deeper, genuine relationship with God. He lives in Alabama with his lovely wife, Karen, and their dogs, Hadi and Rayah. He enjoys hiking, exploring new tech, and “prayer walks”.
Copyright (c) 2023 Randall Vaughn • All Rights Reserved.
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