Our life in Christ goes through seasons, just as nature does.

When God first saves us, we are in the Summer. This is when we are passionate for Christ. We are on fire for Him; burning to serve Him; as if we lay out in the hot summer sun all day. We have never experienced this much passion for anything. We have never before been filled, fulfilled, and satisfied; we realize Christ is the fulfillment of all our dreams.

How this excites us! We want to learn more about Him. We have a burning desire to “know Him”; as Paul said, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings…” (Philippians 3:10).

We pray that our Summer of Service lasts for many, many years; that we never lose our passion to serve Him. We pray that we never turn away from Him; that we never lose our first love. (Read Revelation 2:1-7; the Church of Ephesus.)

After the summer is over, we come to the Fall. As the leaves turn golden yellows, soft browns, and vibrant reds; as the transformation takes place – we find a great beauty and maturity in our Autumn. We are now in our Golden Years. As we look back on our Summer of Service, our history becomes beautiful to us, and to all who know us and view us. In the Autumn of our Christian life, God will make us beautiful to each other; He will allow us to continue to flourish and to bring forth fruit:

“Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;” (Psalms 92:13-14)

We may not have the fruit of passion in the same way. But, our love for Christ will be strong and mature. Yes, it will be good. We will still be full of God’s love, pleasure, and joy. Others will see what He has done in us, and through us, having delivered the Fruit of the Spirit during our strong, fruit-bearing years of Summer. So the Fruit of our Autumn will be the Beauty of Wisdom for all to see.

Next, we have the Winter. The leaves are gone; old age is really here. But even though the fruit and leaves are gone, there are buds all over our branches. The naked eye has to look closely to see next season’s fruit and leaves, to see the new shoots in their embryos. But when our friends examine us in the assisted living home, they will see these buds lying in wait to sprout in the Spring.

Those friends will be able to look beyond our old, racked, physical bodies – they will look into our eyes and see the Hope of Christ that lives within us. They will see our Steadfastness in the Faith; even though the death angel stalks us daily.

As our old bodies quiver and shake, our eyes will still show the love of Christ and the resolve to serve Him unto the end. And others will still be able to see the sparkle that we have when we hear about Him, or speak of Him. Even if our eyes have grown dim and glazed over, others will still be able to see the sweet smile that comes when we hear His Name. We will still show His Love living in us, and His Grace sustaining us.

Finally, comes the Spring. Death will have done its work. None can withstand or stop its call to the grave. But in death, we see our Resurrection, as Spring depicts. Yes, we can see us, Resurrected and in God’s Presence.

Now is when our Eternal Fruit will bud; we see the leaves and the flowers. Now, we will bear fruit, Eternal Fruit, forever and ever.

And we can also see the fruit we deposited in our earthly journey, sprouting all over the earth, and bringing forth fruit again and again. Then, we too will know that we are in the Faithful Heavenly Fruit Line – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… (Hallelujah!)

So Child of God, now you know the Seasons of your Christian Life. Yes, it should excite you. But it should also encourage you; for we can see all the way past death, to our Resurrection in Christ, and through Eternity.

Let this devotion call to you; let it pull you closer to Christ; let it make you more determined to serve Him now – in the Summer of His Service. All too quickly, Summer is over and we enter into the next season of Autumn.

Let God show you once again that His Plan and Purpose for you is Now and also Eternal. Amen and Amen!