Three years ago, my daughter gave me a small aloe vera plant as a birthday gift. It was a very small plant … but it grew. It grew and grew, and before I knew it, there were multiple baby aloes filling up the pot around the original plant.
So, I divided the aloe plant … and gave each baby aloe its own pot. And eventually its own home … as I shared the baby aloes with all my friends.
The original aloe continued to grow … and to make more baby aloes. I continued to divide the baby aloes, and to share them with friends.
Here you can see a photo of the aloes at present. The original aloe is in the large pot in the back on the left. All the current baby aloes which you see were divided this past Christmas. If you look closely, you might notice that several of the baby aloes don’t look 100% healthy. They are slightly brownish from where I forgot about them for the past 5 months and forgot to water them. I am now making a valiant effort to nurse them all back to health.
These aloes are a good picture of what Faith Multiplied looks like. When we first place our faith in Jesus, we are like the original little aloe plant which my daughter gave to me as a gift. As a new believer in Jesus, our faith is small … but it begins to grow.
Through the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God our faith grows and grows … just like my original little aloe grew!
We share our faith with others … and they too become followers of Jesus! That is like the little baby aloes.
As you look at the photo, all the baby aloe plants could represent all the many people who have become followers of Jesus because you shared your faith with them. Perhaps these little baby aloes could represent your children, or your extended family members, or perhaps friends or co-workers.
The thing about Faith Multiplied, is that once someone becomes a believer in Jesus, they are like the little aloe which gets its own pot. The growth of their faith is now up to them and God working in their life. But what if their life begins to look like the brownish unhealthy aloes in the photo?? We care about them and their faith! We want them to be healthy and vibrant.
Each person’s faith is up to them. We can’t “water” someone else’s faith for them. We must trust God, the Master Gardener. Meanwhile, God has given us our “aloe” in our own pot … and that is what He wants us to focus on. Let your faith grow … let your faith multiply! God will take care of all His other “aloes.”
