Plant a hydrangea.
It’s a beautiful shrub with massive flowering balls that are blue or pink, depending upon the acidic level of the soil. They thrive in full sun, but without adequate water, the leaves will falter and wither, dropping off one by one.
The plant doesn’t die immediately. We can coax it back to life. The roots are still viable as long as there’s a touch of green anywhere on the plant. Just add water, let the sun do its job, and new leaves will peek out along the joints of the stem. If we’re patient, and we keep the soil moist, the plant will come back to life as beautiful as ever, casting all its damaged leaves aside, and unfolding perfect, beautiful ones to bask in the sun.
Sin robs the Christian of life-giving water. Our leaves begin to wither, our blooms of joy drop away, and we hardly have life left inside. Three verses in Romans illustrate our suffering:
Romans 3:23 is where the rain stops. Our soil begins to dry.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 reveals not only our fallen leaves, but that we have hope for new growth in Christ.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10:9 is the summer rain soaking our roots so that we may bloom once again.
“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Hydrangeas are resilient beyond belief. We have to starve them of water completely in order to kill them. We are the same. If we still live and breathe, we have hope through Christ to burst forth in beauty, with no remnant of our former lives to remind us of how close we came to death.
Plant a hydrangea. See if it’s not true. Trust your life to Christ. See what he will do for you.
The love of Christ is water to our roots, and we can bloom once more in his enveloping arms.
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Code: FGO.G.30.16b.vp.esv