I come from a long line of farmers and gardeners. My grandmother would save every seed from every tomato that she ate and start what would become a jungle of tomato plants every season. My dad has kept at least one major garden and sometimes even three at different locations around our community. I have clear, sometimes traumatic, childhood memories of planting, tending, and harvesting potatoes, tomatoes, beans, and corn. It wasn’t always fun, and it was rarely easy, but we worked as a family to make the garden grow.
Growing the church is the responsibility of the whole family, as well. In Hebrews 3:12, 13 we read: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” The writer encourages us, as a family, to make sure that we continue to grow and not turn away.
The early church surely faced the same kinds of daily temptations that we face; in fact, they faced outright persecution, which we can only imagine. Yet they were called to encourage each other daily so that they would not become hardened by the sin that they faced.
Tending a garden is not a weekly chore; it is a daily chore. Just as there is always something to do in a garden, there is always something to do in the church; so we cannot be content with interacting with each other only once a week. As the extended family in Christ, we must always be on the lookout for times when our brothers and sisters need encouragement. We have families who are facing temptations and struggles daily, and we must always be ready to encourage and help them however we can. It isn’t always going to be easy, but let’s keep working together as a family, so that none may turn away and so that we may continue to grow in our faith and knowledge of Jesus.