Looks

It is a good looking little tree, the picture of health and vitality. He trunk looks strong and sturdy, and its branches heavy with drak green palm leaves.  Yes, it looks like it is doing quite well but it is not. For it to grow and develop into the awesome tree it can be, it will need to be dug up and replanted.

Why, everything looks just fine from what can be seen on the surface?  True, but it's problem is not on the surface, it's problem is underneath,  in the soil. The soil wasn't prepared properly and the roots will not get the sufficient nutrient. It may survive but it will not thrive.

Jesus tells a parable of just such a tree that was lacking in soil preparation: “ 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it" (Lk 13:8).  The answer was the same - get down to the root and prepare the soil.

Of course, Jesus was not really talking about a tree and neither am I. He was talking about the unrepentant heart that outwardly may appear to be just fine but inwardly, at the root, there is nothing to draw from and therefore lacks the spiritual nutrition to bear fruit.

My focus is the uncommitted heart, that also appears fine from the outside but inwardly lacks vitality because the soil in which it sits is not being prepared properly for growth. Lacking in devotional time of Bible study and prayer, short on ministry involvement and personal sacrifice, and lackluster in worship and praise, this heart will never be what God has designed it to be.

This heart needs to have the soil dug out around it, fertilized and watered deeply. This heart needs the kind of of cultivation that allows roots to run deep into the Word and the Spirit of God. Looking the part will not sustain us when the storms or droughts of life come. We need to truly be buried in Christ so that just as he was raised up "we too may have a new life" (Rom 6:4). Jus' Say'n.