God Gives the Growth

Tuesday, February 3rd
God Gives the Growth
By: Pastor Chrissy Cooney

God Gives the Growth

As Bob and I are in the planning phase of Thrive Church, we have been blessed to receive a lot of encouragement. Recently, a dear friend walked up to us and handed us a gift, “it’s a church plant” she said, with a giggle.

What a fun, and meaningful, gift! Fun because, well, you know, it’s a funny play on words. And meaningful because it’s alive, and it will require that we tend the soil to help it Thrive.
It’s a Baby Rubberplant, and Bob and I will take on its care. We’ll water it and make sure it gets the right amount of light, but we didn’t plant the seedling, and we didn’t put it in its current pot – someone else did those things.

And we can’t make it grow.
Only God can do that.  

He created the plant and He gets all the glory for its growth, and its beauty.
Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians. He writes, “After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow” (1 Corinthians 3:5-6, p. 130 in Messiah).
In ministry (and if you are a disciple of Jesus – you are a minister) there is no competition. We’re all just doing what God puts in front of us each day to do. We’re all just being obedient and faithful servants. God gives the growth.