Do you remember the bean seed experiment from primary school? If you're my age, you might already have gone through round two with your own children, or if you're lucky enough - round three with your children's children.
And the excitement of seeing those first little roots and leaves develop is magical!
But sometimes that's where the fascination stops, and before long the forgotten, withered, bean bearing cotton wool find its way to the trash.
Potential and all.
Why?
The cotton wool simply does not have the necessary nutrients that a young plant needs. For the plant to truly grow to its full potential, it needs to be surrounded by life-giving, healthy soil.
The cotton wool also lacks the necessary support that a young bean needs. Besides the growing root network getting tangled in the cotton wool, what will the little bean be able to climb against when the time comes to stand up?
The cotton wool cannot store the water that the plant roots need to grow for long periods of time and the plant can gradually die of thirst because the water evaporates too quickly.
Unlike good, healthy soil, the cotton wool does not have enough oxygen pockets that the roots need to breathe.
Ultimately, the plant cannot survive if it is not cared for beyond the root stage.
This next section is so easily taken out of context when someone feels that they have been mistreated financially. But here we can see what the actual, contextual and word-correct meaning of Matthew 13:12 is:
For whoever has [spiritual wisdom because he is receptive to God's word],
to him more will be given, and he will be richly and abundantly supplied;
but whoever does not have [spiritual wisdom because he has devalued God's word],
even what he has will be taken away from him.
Matthew 13:12 AMP
(spiritual wisdom = spiritual understanding)
It is just as magical to see your own understanding of God's word grow. And when you pay more attention to understanding more of the Bible, your understanding grows even more, and more understanding becomes yours.
However, when you are content to see only the roots of understanding in your own spiritual life and you are not interested in understanding more, there is a danger that your understanding will dry up over time and you will lose even your limited understanding of the Lord and His workings in the Bible and in your life.
An adult who acts like a child is a sad thing.
An adult who acts like a child in spiritual things is a sad thing too.
Do I really want to stay a child forever?
Or do I want to better understand how to be a healthy adult?
Your inspiration for the week: Changed
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