A Garden Hose as a Metaphor for the Productive Christian Life: Accepting Humble Circumstances (part 5 of 5)

Another thing we can learn from a garden hose is that productivity is connected with humility. Think about it, where do you usually find a garden hose when it is fulfilling its intended function? It’s on the ground, and frequently in the dirt.

Scripture makes that principle abundantly clear. Proverbs 3:34 tells us that God “shows favor to the humble.”  Proverbs 18:12 reminds us that “humility comes before honor.” Jesus stressed the same principle. Matthew 18:3-4, Matthew 20:26, Matthew 23:12, Mark 9:33-35, Luke 14:8-11, Luke 18:10-14, John 13:3-5,12-15. His disciples learned it. James 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:5-7.   As Sirach 2:4-5 puts it, “in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient, since gold is tested in the fire, and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation.”

A collection of posts exploring this theme can be found here.  

Images based on other water related themes were posted on here, here, here, and here.

A collection of scriptures dealing with pride and humility can be found here.  

Images about conforming/yielding to God can be found  here, here, here, here, here; here,  here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here; here,  here, and here.