Reaching for the Son

It's amazing the ways God uses to bring a point home to you. Lately, He's been using my feeble attempts to start a garden. A couple of my seed packets advised starting the plants indoors before transplanting to the scary outside world. So in little cups near a sunny window, my baby tomato and rosemary (hopefully!) plants are spreading their fledgling wings...ahem, leaves. But what is funny is the way that they grow. Their thin little stems bend toward the window and their tiny, growing leaves almost look like arms outstretched toward the sun. As I giggled at the cute picture this made, I was reminded of how God wants us to do the same! How He wants us to reach for His S-O-N.

Reaching for the Son gives us strength.

Only Jesus can provide us with the strength we need to do His work. He promises that He will equip us and fill us as we rely on Him.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." -Eph. 6:10

Reaching for the Son gives us growth.

The more we entrust ourselves to the Son and walk in the light of His truth, the more we grow! If we remain in darkness and denial, our souls remain dead within us, like a seed that is never planted in fertile soil. But when we surrender our lives to the bright Light that is Jesus Christ, He helps us to gain spiritual maturity.

"...but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ..." -1Peter 3:18

Reaching for the Son gives us roots.

As we walk in the Light, not only do we grow upward and outward in love and good deeds, but the stability of our faith grows deeper and stronger. Planted in the fertile soil of the Word and enriched by the Light of the Son, we are able to stand firm.

"Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith..." -1 Cor. 16:13

Reaching for the Son gives us fruit.

Without the strength, growth and roots caused by the Son, we will never bear fruit! Only He can cause the things of the Spirit to come to fruition in our lives.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." -Gal. 5:22-23

Reaching for the Son is our only hope for growth and even our very survival. He longs for us to stretch out the arms of our souls in complete dependence on the strength and power only He can give to us. When we are reaching for the Son, basking in His light, then and only then will we be fully satisfied, and fully useful for His service.

"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he mediates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers."

-Psalm 1:1-3