In The Dirt

Each of my boys has dirt under their fingernails right now. At night, when the day has burned off and the school work is completed, they each spend time in the yard on separate projects, all of which involves… dirt.

One might be building a home for a cricket collection, one might be planting a seedling, and one might be digging a hole with no real explanation. There is a divine impulse in them toward this earth. That divine impulse is in you too. We feel most alive when our toes are in the sand, mountain air is in our lungs, or dirt is under our fingernails. No one had to teach you this. You bear God’s image.

When we read Genesis 1 and 2, we get a window into our original vocation. We were rulers and caregivers of this world. His Kingdom was on Earth as it was in Heaven. We were priests and rulers of that kingdom. This domain and vocation that is broken by sin in Genesis 3 is restored by Jesus in the Gospels.  He declared at His resurrection that there is now a new creation launching right in the middle of this one, but it doesn’t have death on it. That’s why in Jesus, death ultimately won’t be on you. His Kingdom is both now and not yet. When you become a Christian, you and I are invited to be citizens of this Kingdom. How does God want us to have dominion in this new world order?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23

This is not some checklist of a new moral code. This is the way in which God wants us to rule, reign and exercise dominion in His world now, as we will one day do forever.  These are not a list of pious activities; this is a list of the human experience being lived to its fullest. When you are “image bearing” how God intends, you may notice these nine varieties in you and others will too.

These “fruits” are not some exclusive list reserved for those who have sat in the church the most, nor are they to be some state of consciousness we achieve after a good worship service. They are to be lived out in the “dirt”. They are to be practiced on Earth as they are in Heaven.

This list is not just our duty, it is our destiny.

Pastor Jared

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