There is exciting news in the Hiatt house. The watermelon patch has produced watermelons. No, this isn’t some sort of metaphor. Our sprawling, neighbor’s-yard-invading watermelons have given us fruit. The plant has finally started to match what is pictured on the front of the seed packet.
For those of you who are experienced gardeners, this is the normal and expected result. But for me – it’s a novel accomplishment!
Jesus is the picture on the seed packet of what God wants for humanity. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). He is our pattern to imitate (1 Corinthians 1:11). When he preaches, he is bringing vivid detail to that image for you and me.
When we are born again (John 3), that growth process begins. And with every day that passes, we mature and grow and become more like the image of Jesus. Our works do not save us, but they do show us how that growth and maturation process is going (see John 15).
My question for you is this: how do you look, compared to the ideal? I know that none of us have attained perfection (Philippians 3:12) – but are we getting closer? If I’ve been a Christian for a year, is my Christianity at least at a one-year-old level? If I’ve been a Christian 30 years, am I developed like a thirty-year-old Christian ought to?
Look at the pattern. Study Jesus and know what it is He wants you to be, and you will be richly blessed!