Growing Where You Are Planted

Despite what some ministers and televangelists would have us believe, not every Christian is living on top of the proverbial mountain with everything going on in their lives the way they want it to be. Some are living with challenging circumstances: sicknesses, broken relationships, job that pay the bills but are unfulfilling, difficult bosses, unemployment, to name a few. From their vintage point, the grass is definitely greener on the other side. Unfortunately, this view often produces negative attitudes and behaviors that reflect poorly on the individual displaying them. Somewhere between feeling sorry for ourselves and our being on "the wrong side of the tracks," we have forgotten that we are God's workmanship, uniquely created and called to "declare the praises of Him who called [us] out of darkness into His wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9b, NIV).

It is not easy to be a good Christian when it seems nothing is going our way; when we feel that life has dumped truck loads of dirt on us. However, in those situations the perspective we miss is that because God has sovereign control over our lives, where we are is not a surprise to Him. We may be there because of things we have done and for which we are experiencing the consequences; it could be that we are on one of God's night shift, those periods of time in which He ordains a difficult path we must walk. We may not understand it, but somewhere in those experiences He is working things out for our good and for His glory (Romans 8:28-29).

It is our Lord's desire that as branches on the vine we bear fruit and that those fruit remain. Jesus said to His disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain" (John 15:16a, KJV). In other words, no matter where we find ourselves, our lives must bear fruit that last; we must grow where we are planted.

In John 12:24 we read, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." To focus on ourselves and where we find ourselves is not God's intent. To bear fruit means dying to self and living for others and if we truly believe we have been called, gifted, and uniquely assigned to the positions in which we find ourselves, then the time has come for us to learn how to grow in the dump. We can still praise God and allow His love and light to shine through us to impact others and bring glory to our Heavenly Father.

So while things around us might not be what we would like for them to be, let us be mindful of our attitudes. It is not by chance or by accident that we are where we are. Our sovereign God, by His divine or permissive will, has every one of us were we find ourselves for a purpose. Here every challenge is a growth opportunity; we can and must grow where we have been planted.

How much have you grown lately?