The firm “click” of the Gardener’s pruning shears can be heard in our lives when . . .
we are confined to a hospital room,
we are fired from a job,
we are moved to a new place, surrounded by strangers,
we are isolated in a new job, surrounded by unbelievers.
Your purpose, and mine, is to bring glory to God. Jesus reiterated this purpose as He concluded His challenge to the disciples to be fruitful in service: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
You will not bear much fruit unless and until you submit to the cutting and clipping of the Gardener. Therefore, when you resist His “gardening” in your life, what you are really doing is refusing to glorify God and therefore aborting the very purpose for your existence. Solemn thoughts, aren’t they?
In the Old Testament, the glory of God appeared to the children of Israel as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night as they were led for forty years in the wilderness. On occasion, the glory of God would envelop the tabernacle and later the temple with a golden glory cloud as a manifestation of God’s Presence.
But the Bible says God’s glory is no longer revealed in a cloudy, fiery pillar; it is no longer revealed in a golden, glowing cloud. The glory of God is within you and me through the Spirit of God, Who indwells us when we receive Jesus Christ by faith as our personal Savior and Lord! You and I are the display cases for God’s glory as His living temples.
When others look in your “display case,” what do they see?
