Growing Christians

I have failed at growing Avocados for many, many years and that’s not an easy thing for me to admit because I fancy myself as a bit of a Horticulturist. I would buy an Avocado tree which costs about $50… plant it, water it and fertilize it. Invariably in relatively short order it would die and I would be very frustrated and vow never to waste another $50 on an Avocado tree. Eventually though, because I’m an optimist, I would try again but had the same results.

Finally I did some research and understood that Avocado trees grow up in a forest where they are shaded and protected and that tropical forests get consistent rainfalls. You see we live in South Texas and those young trees were getting scalded by the sun and I couldn’t water them as much as they liked.

So I bought another Avocado tree and I planted it under some larger trees put it on a drip irrigation system. Voila! That tree is into its third year now.

Growing Christians… first of all every human being in this world is a little bit different and some are a whole lot different. When they step out of the waters of baptism they all have the same basic needs like an Avocado tree has basic needs… soil, water and sunlight… but those needs have to be in the right proportions for that specific individual.

Every new Christian has to become grounded in God’s word so they can know what God expects of them. In addition, every new Christian needs to build a social relationship with other Christians so they can learn from good examples. And they need these things in the right ways and in the right proportions.

You might lose a new Christian if you over/under fertilize or over/under water him. You might lose a new Christian if you set him out in the hot South Texas sun and don’t have older more mature trees to protect him.

Christians like Avocado trees need to be monitored on a regular basis… look for wilted and dropped leaves. You might think your irrigation system is working only to find out that the batteries have failed.

You can’t just hand a new Christian a Bible and tell him to attend every church service he can and figuratively pat him on the bottom and turn him loose. Care, protection and monitoring must be given to every single individual Christian.

You can lose a $50 Avocado tree from time to time but woe be to the one who loses a new Christian due to laziness and neglect.