July '12:
Haven't blogged in a while. Going to try and blog more often. There's been a lot on my heart the last few months, a lot that God has been teaching me, so I want to share it with you. I pray that God will open your heart and that these words will be food for your soul.
He's really been showing me a lot about broken relationships of every kind. The most important broken relationship though is the one between us and Him. We are a broken people- tattered, trying to repair ourselves. We place bandaids over our wounds in hopes that we will heal. We use people, churches, talk shows, media, books, theologies to try and repair our wounds. We are destroyed when these things don't work- and they WON'T.
Dictionary.com defines broken as:
adjective
2.
reduced to fragments; fragmented.
3.
ruptured; torn; fractured.
4.
not functioning properly; out of working order.
5.
Meteorology . (of sky cover) being more than half, but nottotally, covered by clouds. Compare scattered ( def. 4 ) .
6.
changing direction abruptly: The fox ran in a broken line.
Everything problem we have, everything stems from a broken relationship with the Lord. He is the ultimate healer and without Him, things can only be fixed temporarily, but with Him, He picks up the pieces and puts them back together, as if they were never broken in the first place.
Tonight, I was pulling the vine out of our shrubs out front. It was a tiring, endless job. Just as I'd pull one piece of the vine, I'd discover another, and another...and I came inside and decided to save the rest for tomorrow! It was unbelievable to me how the vine had wrapped itself around the leaves and branches of the shrubs attempting to suck the life from it. As I was pulling the vine, I began thinking back to last year, doing the same thing. I remember that we let it go awhile because we just got too tired of pulling all of it. It looked ugly, and disastrous! So this year, Eddie put netting down and mulch in hope that it would slow down the vine. So a couple of weeks ago, I walked by it and thought, wow, I really need to get in there and pull that vine! There was just a few around the edges. But, I was on my way out, so I put it off. Then, tonight, as Ruthie and I were watering our flowers out front, I noticed how out of hand it had gotten, in just a couple of weeks! It had worked its way to the center of every shrub and wrapped itself around the branches and leaves! So I left what I was doing, and began pulling. I'm really not sure how to get rid of the vine, other than digging everything up and starting over! I do know though, if picked daily, it will be a lot easier than trying to do it all at once.
So, as I was pulling, it reminded me of how life is. When we first come to know Jesus and his salvation, he does a transplant in our lives. Like digging up everything and starting over. A change takes place (or should) inside of us. He begins transforming us, the way we think, act, talk. It is a difficult process. The moment we are a new creation in Christ, the devil will deceive us with lies and present things to us to entice us. Like the vine, it will begin around the edges, so you can't notice it. You may go on about your life walking by and telling yourself you'll deal with it later. Before you know it, the vine has weaseled its way up to your heart and wrapped itself around every fiber of your being.
So what is the vine? Bitterness, jealously, slander, hatred, and unforgiving heart, gossip, fear, worry, etc. All of these things can start out small, like the vine, almost unnoticed by the untrained eye. They can spread until they completely suck the life out of you. And yes, this can happen to the saved. If we are not actively pursuing righteousness and watching for these things, then the vine can slip in unnoticed. 2 Corinthians 11:3 says, "But I am afraid that as the servant deceived Eve by His cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." It all begins with our thoughts. My mind is a battlefield daily! So what do we do? His Word says to take every thought captive. "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 We have to be watchful everyday and look for those areas in our life where a vine could come up. Then, we have to be in our Word and actively pursue the Lord and His righteousness. It is a daily thing- not just a one time decision and you're done. So many people think that after they come to know the Lord, that's it. They don't need to do anything. They can just live their life, go about their business, and fit God into their lives and schedules.
Maybe our complete view of a relationship with God is wrong. We love His things, His blessings, but do we really, truly love Him? Our Creator, Our King, the Lover of our soul? I just recently read Francis Chan's book Crazy Love- excellent read by the way! In it He talks about how our concern is more about going to heaven than truly loving the king. He says that sadly, many of us, if given the option would choose heaven even if Jesus wasn't there. That's because we love the things of God, not the King himself! It'd be like if I loved the gifts my husband gives me and the things he does for me, not him. He wants us to fall in love with Him- it is Jesus Himself who changes us! And it is only through our submission to Him that we can truly be changed and continue to change. Praise Him that He is so faithful. We can't continue to neglect the vine and expect that God is going to do the work without our submission. When we ask, He will transform our mind so that we no longer look like our old selves but are transformed daily into His image! He picks up the pieces and not only puts them back together, but transforms them into an image that reflects who He is. Thank you Lord!
