“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
Spring has sprung. The brilliant sunshine, the vibrant buds, and the cheerful bird songs are enough to make the winter-weary soul soar. Anne Bradstreet wrote, “If we had no winter, spring would not be so sweet.” This quote is true regarding the beauty found in nature and the spirit transformed by Christ out Savior.
Spring is the time when gardeners grub out their flower beds in order to have the healthiest soil for their plants. I have been reading and re-reading Colossians. I love chapter three, where Paul talks about being hidden with Christ, fixing our minds on heavenly things, and putting to death our old self.
Colossians 3 verse 10 in the latter portion of the verse, it says:[our spirit is] “…being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” This implies a conscious choice to learn and to gain understanding about our Creator and to allow a transformation to happen.
Like the grubbing out of flower beds, our spirits, through the work of the Holy Spirit, need to grub out any and all traces of sin that is being revealed to us. I thoroughly enjoy bushwhacking my way through a space mangled with thorn bushes. There are instant results when the many tendril arms are severed and piled elsewhere to be burned. If the root ball remains in the ground, however, tendril arms will re-emerge. To ensure no regrowth happens, a significant amount of digging must be done to ride the soil of the root ball. It took me a few summers to realize that I needed to go beneath the surface to rid the land of the problem.
I am also reminded of Ginseng harvesting, which is a fall activity. Once the plant is located by its characteristic leaves and green steam, the digging begins. The leaves and steam are profitable to keep, but the real prize is the root itself that has many tiny root arms that extend from its body. When harvesting, it is important to follow those root arms as far as possible through the soil. Some root arms are long while others are short. They wind in many different directions and it’s impossible to know which way they wind from the surface.
There are places in our own spirit lives that are rebellious to our Creator. They may be deep down and winding in paths we don’t expect and can only find when searching deeply. God says, in Jeremiah 29:13, “when you seek me you will find me, when you seek me with your whole heart.”
Our Father isn’t interested in children who will send him a card one day a year. He desires children that will come to him every day, many times a day, to learn from him, to listen to him, and to emulate him. Our Father longs for children who will love him truly and in return love others.
If we were honest with ourselves, how far would we allow the Holy Spirit to dig in our spirit to ride us of rebellion to our King? Are we only comfortable following Christ at the surface level? Do we allow the Holy spirit a small garden trowel? Or do we allow the surgery level excising to truly transform our spirits that were born in sin and desperately need holy transformation?
Using the term “surgery” conjures the idea of pain. While God’s goal is not to harm us, sometimes the things that need to be removed from our lives will cause pain, but similar to how surgery has a positive end goal, so does the spiritual excision. How deep are we willing to go with God? There are
no sidelines. We either choose God or we choose to reject God. There is no “impartial” in this life. If we have the gift of breath, we have the gift of choice. The greatest gift is to know Christ as our Savior and King.
