Suppose two women were planting a vegetable garden. On the same day, they prepared the earth and planted their seeds. One then neglected her garden and waited for her vegetables to grow. The other woman worked in her garden regularly. She put cages around the young tomato plants, she drove in sticks beside those vegetable plants that were going to grow up high, and she put netting around plants that were particularly attractive to rabbits and other animals.
Several months later the two women went out for the harvest. One found tomatoes rotting on the ground. Beans whose vines had spread among the other plants, weeds that were choking most of the carrots – all of which had been raided by birds and squirrels. She pulled up a handful of food and figured that planting a garden wasn’t worth it – the food wasn’t as good, the harvest was small, and, well, grocery stores were so much more convenient.
Her neighbor, however, harvested basketful of good vegetables every other day, which had a better taste than those in the grocery store. She figured that, when everything was added up, she probably saved a good fifteen to twenty percent on her grocery bill during the summer months. Both women planted, but only one tended.
I’ve known Christians who have committed their lives to following Christ at about the same time; but the influence this commitment had on their lives soon became markedly different. One lived a life of self-absorption. Christianity made sense, but it became almost a convenience – no need to take it too seriously or to reorder one’s life around it. The other person, however, took a different approach. She found ways to make Bible study a regular part of her life. She kept her prayer life fresh and varied. New attributes came to the forefront, and
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