Romans 8:13 For
if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit
you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Have you ever watched anything die? Helpless before your
eyes? Master gardeners we are not. We like to landscape around the back patio,
but our soil is rotten and we are constantly trying to just keep things alive.
One year we planted a Spirea bush with gorgeous pink blooms. It was so
beautiful for one year. The next year we could not do anything to keep that
thing alive. We tended it with waterings and special nutrients. We moved other
plants out to give it more space. Once it seemed better, the bugs came. Little
tiny insects intent on destroying. We tried every natural remedy known to man
and finally brought out the big guns- chemical powder. We had to douse the
plant in the powder. The bugs were everywhere. By the end of the summer all
that was left of our beautiful bush was brown, dried up, twiggy death. We
mourned a bit and walked away. We gave up on gardening and moved on with life.
The next spring, while drinking a cup of morning coffee on
the back patio, Dave says, “I think I see flowers.” I walked over to the bush
and sure enough, there they were- beautiful little, tiny pink flowers pocketed
away on one section of the bush. A beautiful little secret waiting to burst
forth. Two weeks later, the bush was huge and covered in gorgeous blooms,
stronger and brighter than ever. We call it the Resurrection Spirea, died and
risen before our eyes. A work of our Creator.
That bush shares a lesson with us related to these verses.
Sometimes things need to die, we need to die, desires in our flesh must die for
us to Live. Those desires of the flesh, they eat up everything. They destroy
our hearts, relationships, families, and churches. When we follow our flesh we
work 60+ hours a week, we spew hurtful words, we are inpatient and ungracious
with those we love. But we were put to death in our baptisms by the Creator. We
rise with Him and He continues to put to death daily, in us, through the
Spirit, the inpatient, the unloving, the selfish, and the dishonorable. We are
free. We are Alive in Christ and therefore, different things matter. People
matter, relationships matter, He matters. We emerge brighter and stronger,
filled with His Life instead of our own attempts at counterfeit life. We grow
and flourish under His loving care.
