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 Religion
Weeds In The Flower Bed By Pastor Phillip Howle web posted August 4, 2010 RELIGION – Now, assuming anyone is still reading this column after my insulting of precious hummingbirds last week, we are to talk about gardens and flowers this week. See, I don’t hate all of God’s creation, just those that should be considered homeland terrorists. . At the present, if you were to ride by the parsonage you would see something for the first time in the four years we have been here: a weed bed. That’s right, in the front of our house, where we have planted flowers the past few springs, there is a weed bed. For all the gardening lovers out there, my wife has always plated flowers and had some all right results. In fact I have found that the more time we (I pull up the weeds for her) put into the flower bed the better the results we got. However, this year we just did not plant. We just did not put forth the effort or the expense. Why? Fear of hummingbird attacks obviously. I’m just kidding! Rebecca would tell you it is because our second son has been a bit of adjustment for us. But that is really just an excuse. I mean Rebecca and I find the time to do the things we want to do. So, I guess we really just did not want to go to the trouble of planting flowers. After all, gardening is so much work: turning up the soil, digging little holes for plants, buying the plants, watering the plants, fertilizing the plants, dead heading, and pulling weeds. We just honestly chose not to do it this year. But, our weed bed on the other hand, we never touch. It just comes up all by it’s self. Amazing! And you know what else? There are some real pretty flowers in the bed which also came up by themselves. But you will never see them because the weeds are choking them out. So readers, if your life were a flower bed how would it look? Is it bursting forth beauty for the entire world to see and enjoy? Does it show that you really try by God’s grace to live for God? Or does your life show you just don’t care and are too lazy to put forth the effort to grow in your walk with God. Your life and the way you live is meant to bring honor and glory to God. (Matthew 5:16) We all know that beautiful flower beds never happen by accident, they always reflect the hard work of the gardener. In the same way, Christian character and godliness will not naturally happen, but will require constant attention and divinely enabled obedience. So what can you do today to improve your Christian life? I’ve got and odd verse for you. It is God’s calling of Jeremiah the prophet to service. Jeremiah, in 1:10 writes “See, today I have set you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.” Now God is saying to Jeremiah; things are so awful in Israel, that if change is going to take place before the Babylonians destroy the nation, Jeremiah must seek to tear down and build it back up. In other words, Jeremiah needed destruction and construction to take place. Now, apply this principal of destruction and construction to your life. What weeds in your life need to go? What sins, attitudes, friendships, and activities need to be destroyed? You already know right now, don’t skip out on conviction and life change. Jesus said in Matthew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes your downfall, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. (9) And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, rather than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire! “ But, plucking out weeds and tearing down sinful patterns in your life is not enough. Too many people try being good and moral apart from Jesus and this is destined for failure and frustration. Remember Jesus said in John 15:4 “apart from me you can do nothing”. After you weed out the sins in your life, you still must now add fertilizer and water to nourish, and promote growth in your life. How can you do this? You already know the answer, nothing new here. Get to church. Summer is over; you have taken enough vacations from church already. Put down your novel from the beach and pick up your Bible, quit uploading vacation pictures to Facebook and spend some daily time with God. The Christian life is not hard or complicated, but you must daily put the time into nurturing a relationship with God. This will mean repenting of sin and striving for holiness as well as strengthening yourself by fellowship with other believers, Bible study, and prayer. Pastor Phillip I went by the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking sense. Thistles had come up everywhere, weeds covered the ground, and the stone wall was ruined. Proverbs 24:30-31 The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing. Proverbs 20:4 © Copyright 2010 EdgefieldDaily.com All original
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