exchanged living.

In our group time tonight in San Pedro Sula, we talked a little bit about growth. James tells his readers that the Word of God shows us ourselves like a mirror image. In the same way, as one of my teachers would put it, the missional call of Scripture always calls us to realign our actions and thoughts with the character and purposes of God. Missional living tends to bring our hearts into the illuminating presence of the Triune God, where we see where our way of living is out of line with God’s character and purposes and must make a choice.

What we do with the things God brings to light in the moment is the pivot point towards (or away from) growth. Conviction, confession, repentance: these are the words of realigning ourselves to Him, and they’re tough, soul-searching things to take on. Paul Tripp compares this process to pulling weeds; in order to prepare a space for a garden, first the field must be cleared, the rocks removed, the soil tended…there’s a lot of removal and renovation that must occur before true growth can even begin.

Chuck Geveden (one of our team members) compared it to the field burnings he grew up seeing in Western Kentucky. I thought about the sugar cane fields of Louisiana. The burning readies the field for the coming harvest.

And there’s the catch: if we’re not committed to the clearing, we’ll never see the kind of growth our heart is made for, the kind of growth that the grace of God calls us towards when we see ourselves in light of the Truth.

My prayer for my team this week, and my prayer for myself, is that we have the courage to follow the Holy Spirit as our hearts are exposed, that we may be changed, transformed, and ultimately bear fruit.