Bloom

Forcing a flower bud to open doesn't work: it just destroys the blossom. Left alone, the bud will open gradually, revealing its beauty. The blooming process is stimulated by sunlight, warm temperatures, water and soil nutrients.  Merely wishing, hoping, or intoning "Abracadabra!" won't unlock the flower.

I'm a bad gardener...I can't even grow irises. I know that sounds ridiculous, since irises normally grow like weeds, but MY irises won't produce flowers. Last summer, I proactively moved my irises from mostly shade to a sunnier spot, in the hope that would stimulate them to bloom. They have done nothing. They are tiny and anemic and I know why: the soil sucks. I planted them partially under a giant spruce thinking these tough plants could handle the acidic soil resulting from years of fallen needles, so I threw some powdered lime on them, and left them to get with the program.  They refuse to flourish. They have water, sun, and spring warmth, yet without good, rich soil, there they sit, stunted and yellow.

My irises are a picture of Christian lives lived under a shallow gospel: limp existences that never produce a crop.

Jesus said in Mark 4:3-8: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”

He went on to say in verses 14-20:  "The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

So what necessary "nutrients" do we need to live fruitful life?  Jesus said in John 15:1, 5, 6-13, 16-17:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener..“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends...You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

I have determined that there is NO way we Christians can flourish without remaining in Christ, without patterning our lives after His, without obeying his commands. To do so, we must first KNOW what His commands are!  How can we accomplish this without saturating ourselves in His Word? Without spending time in deep, fervent prayer? Without the infilling of the Holy Spirit?  To live the shallow, American life and clinging to  our day of salvation is to live like those stunted irises.  We'll never grow, blossom, or bear fruit.  Maybe that's all some of us want, but not me. I want to live a life of LOVE, power, richness, and abundance.  I want to nail my sins to the cross, of course, but I also want to live as Paul said in Romans 6:10-11: “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus," but even more so as Jesus commanded in Matt. 10:8: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."