Banquet With The King: Growth in Your Garden?

Prayer – Lord, plants grow…and so do people. As we “mature” physically and spiritual, please give us wisdom to understand the new realm that we will one day be a part of—Your heavenly spiritual world.

Scripture. 1 Corinthians 15:42-49

Meditate. Time to start considering planting seeds.

Are you just an earthly body? Can you envision your spiritual body?

I grew up watching plants grow in the fields on our farm…and those near my home. I just took it for granted that plants grow. The fields are plowed, seeds planted and watered…and they grow and are harvested. Just part of life. People are pretty much the same. Babies, like little plants, get bigger. Before we know it…toddlers turn into big kids running, riding bikes, and then driving cars. That’s physical growth…how about spiritual growth? Spiritual growth has to be much more intentional. It begins with a choice to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the spiritual creator and leader of all mankind.

Jesus began His earthly life with a natural body…as a baby born in Bethlehem. When He was baptized His spiritual life on earth seemed to begin…and God the Father was well pleased with Him (Matthew 3:17). Do you see any difference in Christ, before His death and after His resurrection? Even prophesy describes the way He would look after His crucifixion. Study those portions of scripture for yourself and discover a truth that you hadn’t noticed before (Example Psalm 22.)

And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Luke 9:29 (At His Transformation)

But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. Isaiah 52:14 (Before His Crucifixion.)

She (Mary Magdalene) turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. John 20:14 (After His resurrection.)

What did Jesus look like?
No one knows for sure.
This was my rendition years ago.
Lenten worship art.

He might have just been an ordinary looking guy—nothing noteworthy in His appearance until He went through the transfiguration. After the beatings right before His crucifixion, His face was not recognizable. Then immediately after His resurrection, again He was not recognized. When He appeared to the Disciples in the Upper Room that evening, His disciples knew Him—so we can assume that His face looked like His pre-cross face. Good looks are valued in our society today—but there are few really perfect faces. Why would Jesus have one? People are drawn to charismatic, charming and good-looking people. People were drawn to Jesus because He was a teacher, healer, and provided food for the masses. After He was resurrected, He appeared to more than 500 people at one time—but He drew much larger crowds when He miraculously fed the 5,000 men and their families, with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. No matter how He looks, physically, His spiritual being is life-giving and that spiritual dimension is the feature that His faithful followers will one day also embody. Raised from mortal to immortal spiritual being. Buried in a weak form…and raised in an everlasting form of glorious strength.

He was not weak…but we are weak in these earthly bodies. When we will be raised, we will be strong in celestial bodies—not these broken earthly bodies—with strength from the Lord God.

Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you. But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. Psalm 73:25-28

There’s the quintessential component of our relationship with Jesus. He told His disciples and us that we are to go and make disciples. Telling others. That is God’s purpose for us. Planting seeds in others as we share the love and truth of the Lord.

So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don't be ashamed of me, either, even though I'm in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:8-9

Are you growing spiritually? Are you planting seeds spiritually in others?

Verse of Salvation ~ For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

All scripture quoted from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.

Books by Mickey M. Hunacek

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Growth in Your Garden?

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