Mow the Grass

This week I went out and scalped my lawn and mowed it for the last time of the season.  It ended up being the most difficult job yet. I put my riding mower cutting height a little lower this time and I was amazed at the amount of grass clippings I had to rake and bag.  All through the summer I had fertilized and killed weeds and I must say the yard really had a good look. I would cut it at a depth that looked very uniform when finished and that depth would make me have to mow it about every four days.  As summer days turn to fall the grass also turns more brown than green in color and the growth stops for the winter season.  But those grass clippings!!  It is just a bunch of dead grass and when the wind gets up it flies all over the place.  Frustrating...

Those dead grass clippings really got me thinking about how my lawn is watered and taken care of and how when fertilizer is added it gets really green and then at the end of the summer it goes dormant.  Kind of a controlled death.  Not growing, but not totally dying, and not very good to look at with no growth at all.  Peter wrote to the church in 1 Peter chapter 1 about being holy and also staying green all the time and what it takes to do that.  In verse 13 Peter says "prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope full on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed."  He goes on and talks about the ongoing hope in verse 23 we will have if we know where it comes from "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."   A life built on God's Word never goes dormant.  It is always growing and thriving and the witness God builds in our lives through His Word is a beautiful representation of His living Word, the Bible.   

Too many times we as Christians try to live our life out of secondary information like, I heard someone say one time...., or remember the old saying....  All of those are very pleasing to our ears, but only the words from the Word of God have the power to change and rearrange and make us fresh and ever growing in our faith.  What we have to offer as humans is not ever growing and fresh, but dying and perishable and goes dormant when you really need it.  In verse  24 Peter says, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but.... the word of the Lord stands forever."  There is a very important final sentence in this scripture and it goes like this..."And this is the word that was preached to you."  What are you listening to that is preached to you.  Is it the unedited word of God or is it someones impression of the word filtered through a worldly viewpoint.  Sometimes we want to take God's Word and filter it through a worldly filter to make it more palatable for those listening, like we have to explain what we think it was really saying, so people can comprehend and make it apply to how we live today.  What is really happening is we are watering it down because don't see the power of it being so blunt and so exact.  When we do that we are causing God's Word to be less lasting and effective, and it will become dormant in our lives.  Why?  Because we have inserted us and our opinions into the mix.  When that happens it loses some of it's life, some of it's power.  Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any doubled-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  

So if you are a blade of grass and all through your life you have been watered and fertilized by a filtered version of God's Word you will go dormant or die eventually.  Bad news huh?  The good news is you can make it right today by seeking God in His Word and taking it for what it really says, and nothing less.  In other words, mow the grass that has been grown by teachings that are filtered through man's intellect and reasoning and redo your lawn (life) by getting into God's Word and seeing what it says to you and the Holy Spirit will do the rest.  Actually most believers are living their faith from filtered truth and that produces weak and changing faith that is very ineffective.  God's Word is imperishable truth and never goes dormant, but is fresh and new every time you read it.  If you don't believe me.  Try it. Cause I know that's true.  The Apostle Paul sent letters to Timothy, his son in the faith and he said a lot of great things, but the one that stands out most to me is what he said in 2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is God-breathed and is  useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."  Mow the grass that is dying and going dormant and reseed with the pure Word of God.  Then your grass (life) will always be green and growing....

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren