Vigilant

I work outside pruning trees, mowing, edging, weeding, planting, etc. Recently we have begun a project to clear out an area that has become so overgrown with weeds. Now these are not just get-down-on-your-hands-and-knees kind of weeds but rather they are tree-and-bush-look-a-like-and-therefore-need-a-chainsaw-to-remove-them kind of weeds. Now how in the world do weeds become looking like trees... they go unnoticed. They are simply allowed to grow and grow and grow. No one goes in and weed-whacks them down or gets down on their hands and knees to pull them out when they are small. Whether it be it's too tedious, too annoying, or didn't want or have the time to give it attention, they grew and grew. To the untrained eye they actually do look like bushes and trees but thanks to three years of working with landscaping my eye is recognizes those aren't supposed to be there.

Often times this can be my life. Certain areas are well manicured and taken care of and look great. Yet because of that I spend so much time on those areas I neglect others. Slowly weeds take residence. I see them at a glance but hurry over to the other areas to groom yet again thinking "I'll get to that later. It's not that bad." And it's true they are nothing but little tiny weeds of no importance they even blend into the grass. Time passes, it may not even be long under the right conditions - mid 60s and rain - and these weeds are getting tall. But because of those same conditions everything else is growing like crazy so now busyness sets in. There is so much to do and that area definitely does not take precedent. So once again, it is neglected. By the time I get the rest of the areas under control, I'm exhausted and have no energy to even think about tackling those weeds.
Those perfect conditions come around again or maybe dry spells under which the circumstances require me to water the other areas to keep them alive but now these weeds are so well developed they survive even the drought. Time continues to pass and now I hardly recognize the need for the weeds removal. They have become bushes and trees and they look pretty good, quite natural. So hey.. why the need to put the time and energy in to clear those out; they are a part of my landscape.
Only... I have forgotten that they now completely block the view I had. I used to be able to see across the beautiful waters and enjoy the full picture of my land... now I see bushes and trees. I remember there used to be beautiful flowers here but they have been choked by the weeds but there's even more I became so used to seeing them that I actually believed them to be good - to be trees and bushes, therefore not only forgetting the real view but I thought they were something they weren't.
I miss the beautiful view when I could clearly see across the waters. Only now instead of a couple of hours on my knees to remove some weeds I have to spend days, most likely weeks, cutting down trees and bushes, fighting vines, and itching from poison ivy...all because I decided to neglect those tiny weeds. If only I had taken the time a little each week to clear them...
I'm still working at clearing that view and I'm starting to see the beauty again, it's scared with stumps but while it won't ever be quite the same but there will be new beauty. To retain this beauty will take work. My eyes have to stay sharp on the look out for weeds; especially ones disguised as beautiful plants. Then I have to remove them right away or replay this whole scene again.



Can you relate?
Have you neglected them to the point where you need a chainsaw or can you still get down on your knees and pull them out?
Have they become to natural that you can't recognize their real identity (not good but sin)?
Do you even care that sin is taking over?
Are you being vigilant to keep sin out and keep your eyes clear and focused on Christ?

Aftermath of a Bomb

In college, there was a very familiar routine of moving. You did it to move into the dorms, partially to break between semesters, and then once again for the summer. This routine required mess. The room that had become your space and home had to be teared down. The once nicely organized room (whether neatly or chaotically - whichever was your preference) became the aftermath of a bomb with clothes, books, papers, and random things you didn't even know you acquired sprawled over every inch of your room. No one is surprised by this, people simply remark, "It has to get messy before it gets clean." But how come that saying is the "duh" concept when cleaning a room but when "cleaning" in life we are suddenly so surprised?

I have found myself surprised by the messiness of life currently. I have seen more than two relationships broken in about a month, loved ones in a continuous cycle of being on the outlook for jobs, being a part from loved ones for a long period of time and then only having a short time with them when reunited, experiencing gut wrenching pain (at times literally), being in the limbo of transition, watching friends go-go-go and on the verge of burnout, watching friends leave, trying to have discernment, experiencing the ache of disappointing many, learning immense amounts about myself, listening to friends having to process through a possible permanent separation, and more. Why am I surprised? This.. utter chaos and mess.. this is what has to happen in order for things to get better... right? 

Still the uncertainty of every shakes me. The pain in those around me breaks my heart. What do I do when I keep trying to clean the room but nothing is getting better or worse it just is? 

This has been my overwhelmed state. 

But this morning... 

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

What if there are times instead of seeing a rather immediate clean room we are to just to continue to be diligent in cleaning knowing it might not get better for a long time? Will we rejoice in the hope that someday it will be better? Will we be patient in that mess? Will we be continuously praying?

a burden

This has really been on my heart this week. 
There are still 2 billion plus people who do not know Jesus.
This needs to change.
Matthew 28 was not a option given; it was a command given to all who follow Jesus. 
There is no plan B. The Church is the plan. This is a burden on my heart. Too many do not know... 

Love

Love your neighbor as yourself...
This is not a new verse. But I had a new thought on it this morning as I was talking with a friend. When I think of this instantly I think of the love that I need to be extending to others around me but I miss that last part, as yourself. So what if you don't love yourself? Can you really and truly love others? For we are to love our neighbors as ourselves therefore we better be loving and caring for ourselves as well. Now, know that when I say love ourselves I don't mean in a narcissistic way but rather we are so good at hating on ourselves rather than recognizing that we are made in the image of God and therefore have worth and dignity.   So is it possible that in order to love others better we have to love ourselves better?

Filth

Generation after generation filled with hearts set against the ways of God. Of course there were a few faithful men and women sprinkled within but as a whole, they were set against God. There would be revivals and the few faithful individuals continued to clear the stage so that there was only one to be praised, yet time and again they put others up on the stage pushing God back. But God did not want back stage or stage left, He wanted the stage. He was jealous for them as a husband is for a wife. This jealous was good and to be expected. Yet His love was not just jealous but it was like a Father and Judge. Because He loved them so much there had to be discipline....because He is just, there had to be consequences. For decades, they were displaced people under the rule and authority of foreign men; their language, customs, values, beliefs, culture no longer primary. They revolted and rebelled against the Holy, Just, Righteous, Loving God...they screwed up. But then decades after coming to that strange land through a man named Zechariah they heard God say:
I was very angry with your fathers...but return to me and I will return to you. Do no be like you fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' but they did not hear or pay attention to me. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statues, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? Satan is accusing you but I rebuked him. I removed your filth - your sin and I clothed you with pure clothes. I am jealous for you with great jealousy, ad I am jealous for you with great wrath. You shall be my people, and I will be your God, in faithfulness and in righteousness. You have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. Rejoice greatly! Shout aloud! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will strengthen you, and I will save you. I will bring you back because I have compassion on you, and you shall be as though I had not rejected you, for I am the Lord your God and I will answer you. I will bring you home. I will make you strong in my name and you shall walk in my name.


Despite their utter depravity, rebellion, and revolting He still loved them with a jealous love. He still hears their cries and answers them. He still welcomes them home. He fights for them. He washing them clean of all their dirt and filth. He gives them strength and makes them a blessing.

The King did come in the form of a baby. He was (is) righteous and brought salvation by taking upon the sins of the world. He defeated sin and death. His love was (is) so great that He died for all people and for anyone who believes there is eternal life.

What about you? What has your life been filled with? Are you still living in the filth of your own life or have you heard the Father's cry for you to abandon the ways of our fathers in rebelling and to come home to Him?  Have you know He is jealous for you? Do you know that He rebuked Satan and took your filth? Will you respond to His love and follow Him or continue in filth?

The Bride

This morning as I was spending time with Jesus I was burdened for THE Church. I was reading in 2 Chronicles 25. The part that specifically caught my attention and burdened me are verses 17-28. Israel God's chosen nation split, fighting against each other, ravaging through God's house... They chose idols of the nations around them. I saw an all too familiar picture as read those verses. Today the Bride is not one cohesive body. We are all chosen by God yet like Israel we are split and fight each other. Even within certain congregations... In saying all of this, I recognize that conflict is not bad because from conflict comes growth. Paul did not back down from exhorting and challenging his brothers and sisters. We need to be continually pointing each other back to Jesus, back to the Bible. And we as the receiving end of such exhortation need to be willing to hear unlike King Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:14-16)... This burden was felt because I do not believe The Church is being The Church as God intended us to be. So will you join me in praying for God revive The Church, for The Church to rise up?


Also this is different but kind of on the same page, this morning I saw this video my friend made and I think this in the same lines as I was speaking above: 

Radiating Light

Today is one of those days my heart just breaks. It is a mixture of joy and love and urgency. Last night I listened to a woman share her story - the darkness that existed at one point and now the Holy Spirit is radiating out of her very being. This morning I was reading different stories from around the world. My heart jumped with joy as I looked upon the beautiful God created faces of the children, women, and men but then as I continued to read my heart grew heavy. There 2 billion plus people who do not know Christ. They do not know who He is. They don't know what He's done, how He loves them. They are not giving Him the glory due to His name.
A wake oh sleeper. This is why you were created.
Arise bride! Tell the world about your groom!