"Although the wicked flourish like weeds, and evildoers blossom with success, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them."
Psalm 92:7
Earlier today I was weeding in our church garden. Frequently when we raise a garden we work really hard to get the garden ready, the fence up, the ground tilled and fertilized, and the plants in the ground. Then we tend to set back and watch it grow. We water it every few days to make sure it keeps growing and doesn't die and wait patiently for the harvest. Much of the time we just sit back and enjoy all the green plants growing and are encouraged that all is going well. We really don't take time to examine the plants. We don't realize that in amoungst the plants, tiny little weeds have started to grow. At first they just blend in with the "good" plants and it is hard to tell them apart. But over time they begin to get bigger and bigger. Some of them even still look a lot like the good plants,don't let them fool you, but others have turned ugly and their roots have gone very deep. Eventually the weeds start to choke out the good plants. Oh no, what do we do? Do we just break them of at the top of the dirt? No, we pull the weeds! In fact we rip them out of the ground roots and all so that the good plants get the nourishment they need. Are we OK then? Is all well? For now, but unless we keep a constant vigal, the weeds will return and once again threaten to over run and ruin the garden.
Our lives are a lot like our gardens. We prepare and plant our "life garden" by giving our life to God. We water it by going to worship services on Sunday morning, maybe a weekday evening service, and maybe even some form of ministry. But are we keeping a constant vigil over our lives to keep the weeds of sin at bay? Remember they start small and may even look like the good things in our lives but over time they send their roots deep into our soul and they will grow into something ugly. Then they are very hard to overcome and can end up destroying our lives. Frequently those weeds of sin can actualy help us prosper in this world. But remember, we are not of this world, we just live in it. We are of Gods world, His kingdom.
Are you willing to accept the eternal destruction of your garden from the weeds or are you going to keep a constant vigil and pull the weeds when they are small?
Saturday, July 28, 2012
In the beginning...
Well, welcome to my new blog! I tried this once a few yeas ago and really didn't stick with it but I may still revive that one too. It had a totally different purpose than this one.
So you may be wondering what this blog is about. Well, I would have to describe it as being a journey of discovery for me. You see I am a relatively new Christian (about a year and a half). I think this is supposed to be both my ministry and my way of learning more about God and how to be a good Christian. You see, I am just a simple country boy that enjoys digging in the dirt and growing things. One day this idea occured to me, I was weeding our church garden and I realized that we all need to weed our lives every now and again. Writing doesn't come naturally to me but the thought that this would be a good ideas for a blog entry occured to me. Thats when the realization hits me that this is the Holy Spirit giving me a little nudge.
At this point I really started to talk to God about this crazy idea that he was putting in my head, "Really, me writting a blog, I've already tried that, it didn't work out to well last time" I said. "But you weren't listening to me then", He said. "But I only have one idea, its going to be a really short blog", I said. Then another idea poped into my head. "Ok, so now I have two, that still not going to get me very far", I said to Him. Then other ideas started to pop into my head in a rapid fire type of way. "Ok, I get the picture. I am not alone in this, your going to help me with the ideas for the blog. I guess I have said that I want you to use me as you need me. I guess this is a good example of how we are to rely on you to do the things that we can't by ourselves.", I said. I got a very simple response back, "Yep". So here I am, starting a new blog.
So what should you, the reader, expect? Well, I can't really tell you where this is going to go, but it is going to start out as a "Lessons for life, from the perspective of a Christian gardner". I am hoping to write these entries in a devotional type form, using a Bible passage to start from and then a short story on how we can apply that lesson to our lives using gardening as the means of describing it. I know that for now I have no followers, but my hope is that over time not only can this be a method for me to study Gods Word and become a better Christian, but maybe I can help others do the same. So, future followers of this blog, please leave comments, both encouragment and criticism. I am still learning and may be looking at things the wrong way. If we can get some good discussion going maybe we can all discover how our gardens can teach us about God.
Thanks,
Matt
So you may be wondering what this blog is about. Well, I would have to describe it as being a journey of discovery for me. You see I am a relatively new Christian (about a year and a half). I think this is supposed to be both my ministry and my way of learning more about God and how to be a good Christian. You see, I am just a simple country boy that enjoys digging in the dirt and growing things. One day this idea occured to me, I was weeding our church garden and I realized that we all need to weed our lives every now and again. Writing doesn't come naturally to me but the thought that this would be a good ideas for a blog entry occured to me. Thats when the realization hits me that this is the Holy Spirit giving me a little nudge.
At this point I really started to talk to God about this crazy idea that he was putting in my head, "Really, me writting a blog, I've already tried that, it didn't work out to well last time" I said. "But you weren't listening to me then", He said. "But I only have one idea, its going to be a really short blog", I said. Then another idea poped into my head. "Ok, so now I have two, that still not going to get me very far", I said to Him. Then other ideas started to pop into my head in a rapid fire type of way. "Ok, I get the picture. I am not alone in this, your going to help me with the ideas for the blog. I guess I have said that I want you to use me as you need me. I guess this is a good example of how we are to rely on you to do the things that we can't by ourselves.", I said. I got a very simple response back, "Yep". So here I am, starting a new blog.
So what should you, the reader, expect? Well, I can't really tell you where this is going to go, but it is going to start out as a "Lessons for life, from the perspective of a Christian gardner". I am hoping to write these entries in a devotional type form, using a Bible passage to start from and then a short story on how we can apply that lesson to our lives using gardening as the means of describing it. I know that for now I have no followers, but my hope is that over time not only can this be a method for me to study Gods Word and become a better Christian, but maybe I can help others do the same. So, future followers of this blog, please leave comments, both encouragment and criticism. I am still learning and may be looking at things the wrong way. If we can get some good discussion going maybe we can all discover how our gardens can teach us about God.
Thanks,
Matt
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