Are You A Hot House Christian?

When I was growing up, my aunt had a greenhouse business. We often referred to it as a "hot house" because it was! During the busy planting season, or just to play around some days, I would help transplant tomato, marigold, periwinkle and numerous other vegetable and flowering plants in her hot house.

We would usually start by opening old pint sized milk cartons, fill them with soil, then separate the "baby plants" individually which had been grown in a larger container and place them into the milk cartons to grow bigger on their own. It didn't take me long to realize how easy it is to uproot one of those baby plants. Why? Because their roots weren't sturdy and deep yet.

Joshua 1:8 says, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it." And just before Joshua was about to go into battle, God told him in verse 5, "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life."

If you aren't staying in the Word daily and reading books that increase your faith, your roots can't grow deep. When the winds of change and criticism blow, you are easily uprooted just like those plants in the hot house.

There was a time in my life when the anonymous emails, letters, voice mails and even posts right here on my personal blog bothered me and hurt my feelings. Now that my roots in God's Word and my faith in Him is stronger, those critics don't bother me anymore because I know who they are and more importantly, who they are being manipulated by.

It's time we stop being hot house Christians!

(Barbie's speaking schedule is booking up quickly! Go to www.barbiebassett.com and click on "Contact Info" to contact her publicist if you're interested in Barbie speaking at your church conference, convention or banquet.)