In 1939, Lord Northbourne coined the term organic farming to describe a holistic, ecologically-balanced approach to farming—in contrast to what he called chemical farming, which relied on “imported fertility.” Thus, organic produce is grown without the use of additives or genetic alterations.
In Colossians 1:6, the Apostle Paul wrote: “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” The true gospel is a gospel of simple grace; it is organic—that is, there are no additives or alterations to it.
Grace means I depend on God’s inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless; anything else is a futile attempt to broker my own redemption.
Some preach a “different gospel—which is really no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7). This is because they preach a gospel of grace plus works, or faith plus works; that is, they are attempting to add to, or alter, the gospel of God’s grace alone. But Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
The organic message of the gospel is that God has generously and lovingly offered salvation through the sacrificial death of His Son as a free gift (i.e. no strings attached). Let us accept God’s gracious gift by faith and remain spiritually “organic,” never adding to, altering or abandoning life within the sphere of grace.