Using the whole “plant” for the glory of God

A few years back I bought a rhubarb plant from an Amish man in the area. He told me to put it in and not harvest it the first year and let it get established.  I like the tart taste of the plant. As a boy we had some on our farm and we would eat it raw and Mom made a sauce out of it and sometimes even a cobbler or pie with strawberries !      But I learned something else about the plant recently that fits my spiritual lesson today.  The leaves are poisonous (which I have known for years) but God made even them to serve us in an interesting way.  The leaves have high amounts of oxalic acid and so can be used to make a natural pesticide !     A person can boil these leaves in water and make their own pesticide which SHOULD NOT be placed on anything one wants to eat for it can cause even death !!  But your roses and other plants can be sprayed to deter any bugs which would attack the plant and you save money and help the environment by not having to buy or use chemical products.

Whether or not the poison in the plant was a result of the fall of man when God cursed the ground or not the point is that all around us in God’s creation now are things which are good for us and things which are also deadly.  There are things that bring us joy and sorrow and yet God is wondrously able to work through them all for us on our behalf to work about His grand plan and provide with whatever we need to do His will. Peter wrote, “According as His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” (2Pt.1:3).

God has called each of us to “glory and virtue” !  Its is your explicit mandate from Him today to choose so that He is glorified in your decisions and that His communicable attributes shine in you.  Such as the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.).  There will be poisonous ideas and options out there to thwart God’s purposes for you but even those if we choose well God is able to turn the poison into pesticide !!  Take that bitter thought that would shackle you and forgive,  overcome that evil with good, turn that temptation into triumph by His grace and power because all things really can work together for good to them that love God and that are called according to His purpose !!!!  Use the whole “plant” in your life today for the glory of God.