Tending Your Garden

God's will for our lives is our sanctification, yes? I'm so glad we agree. This is by no means easy – nobody necessarily enjoys being pruned, it's painful. But then, no one ever told you the christian walk would be easy... at least, I hope they didn't. If they did, then they lied to you.

I say all this because I have had some work done on me, let me not be mistaken... It was not of my own will that my misdeeds be corrected, but the will of the Father. He deemed it necessary that I learn some lessons – some very hard lessons – and so he chastised me. I will share some things that I learned in the process:

I had my heart way too set on some things that, well, my heart was set on. They would have been merely beneficial to the hopeless romantic part of me, with only slight possibilities for lasting value. I was completely denied this certain delight. I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would change my heart. After much heartache, I realized that I was being far too nearsighted in my faith. All I could focus on was what I wanted, but it became clear to me that our focus should not be on the pleasure that this world has to offer us. Rather, our focus should be on Christ, and heaven where we are to be, and that nothing should hurt us that much, because it simply doesn't matter. If things like this upset us to where bitterness and resentment are bred, then our hearts are not in the right place.

I'm not saying that it's wrong to be disappointed...but to rebel against the ones who resist your will (ultimately God, to whose will we are bound anyway,) then this exposes a huge long string of character qualities which the Lord hates.

So anyway, this morning I was reading a well known passage, Colossians 3, and I must say that, not matter how many times I have read it, I have never had it mean so much to me before.

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is Seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." (v. 1-4)

The pros of possessing a resistant will are non-existent and the cons are endless. To the young ladies who read this, I must say that this is contrary to the way we are exhorted to behave. To move down the passage to verse 12 we read,

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience..."

This makes it clear the way we are desired to behave as Christ's church – as His chosen bride. Marriage between man and woman should be a perfect reflection of the church's relationship with Christ. The husband should love his wife as Christ loved the church. But what kind of a witness is a marriage when the wife is not reflecting what Christ's church is to exude? Young ladies, the first passage I shared, as the qualities the church should possess, points to 1 Peter 3, the virtue a woman should nurture and hold dear:

"...let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, but submitting to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening."

Here I absolutely HAVE to bring Shakespeare into the picture. He was right on in his play "The Taming of the Shrew". At the end of the fifth act, Katherine (previously "the Shrew", now sanctified into a wonderful example) rebukes her sister and friend (earlier in the play, two seemingly mild and obedient wives) for not treating their husbands with the love and respect he deserves... and what it really means to be a woman.

"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love and obey.
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?"

And so I exhort you to submit your wills unto the Lord, release your agenda, offer the petition "your will, not mine, be done", and let the motives of your prayers be pure.