Planted to Flourish

David wrote a Psalm to sing praises unto God. He spoke of the downfall that would come of his enemies and the doom of evil assailants. Contrastingly, the reward for the righteous who are planted is to flourish. This planting is in the house of the Lord. The planting that David referred to, is being connected to a place of worship. In David’s time, this would be a sanctuary or a temple where people would pray, worship and offer sacrifices. We can make a similar reference to a plant that needs good soil in order to flourish.

Another analogy is of a branch needing the sustenance of the tree. Jesus made reference in the New Testament to us being branches and the importance of remaining connected. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4). Other biblical references are made to us being a part of the larger body of Christ. Similar to body parts needing to remain connected to the body, to continue to survive, we need to remain connected to the body of Christ.

Some modern day ideas and philosophies suggests that you don’t need the church. The redundancy of that statement is that, as Christians, we are the church. A Christian saying that they don’t need to attend church, is saying that they don’t need to be connected to the body that they are a part of. How do Christians think that they can survive without a larger church body? This idea is faulty and a contrary wind of doctrine, which the devil has used to draw people away from the things of God. Moreover, David made it clear that being planted makes us flourish.

We have all had our share of church hurt and many times church people or church leaders, don’t live up to our expectations. What we need to wrap our minds around is that, whether inside or outside of a church building, people are human beings with faults and failings. Putting people who attend church or church leaders on a pedestal is setting yourself up for failure. The bible teaches us about wheat among tares and wolves among sheep. It is our responsibility to test the spirits to see whether they are from God or from the devil. The bible also teaches about false prophets, some of whom have set themselves up as Pastors.

Cultivate a relationship with God for yourself. One which is not determined by what happens around you, or the people that you attend church with. If a church is no longer meeting your needs for spiritual growth and maturity, ask God to lead you to place where you can be fed and nourished. Test the spirits and expect to find some tares among the wheat. Once you have found a fellowship where you can trust the ministers to teach sound doctrine, do not neglect the assembling together of the saints.

“They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; They shall be fat and flourishing” (Psalm 92:14).

A.P.-Y:

Published
December 13, 2021December 13, 2021