Me:  Prodigal, Thank you for inviting me over to you garden!  It is really nice!

 

Prodigal:  I am serious about my gardening, I am a farmer pig after all!  I love to grow flowers and vegetables.  Since you have been so caring to me, I wanted to give you some of these carrots.

 

Me:  Thank you Prodigal, I know that this is a gift from the heart.  I want to share about another gardener just like you.

 

Tim Chester shares this in his book You Can Change

 

The great nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon illustrates this point with the story of a humble gardener who presents a bunch of carrots to his king because he so esteems and loves his sovereign.  The king rewards his love with a plot of land so he can continue to bless his kingdom.  A courtier sees this and thinks, “An acre of land for a bunch of carrots–what a deal!”  So the next day the courtier presents the king with a magnificent horse.  The wise king, discerning his heart, simply accepts the gift with a “thank you.”  When the courtier is disconsolate, the king explains, “The gardener gave me the carrots, but you have given yourself the horse.  You gave not for love of me but for love of yourself in the hope of a reward.”  Are you feeding the hungry or are you feeding yourself?  asks Spurgeon.  Are you clothing the naked or are you seeking your own reward?  Are you serving God or serving yourself?  The Bible talks often of reward, but that reward is God himself–the joy of knowing and pleasing the God we love and in whom we delight.

We don’t change so we can prove ourselves to God.  We’re accepted by God so we can change.  God gives us a new identity, and this new identity is the motive and basis for change.

Ephesians 5:1-2

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

 

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org