If you are like me, you spend some time on your yard so that it's healthy, looks good and you can enjoy it. Yard work involves some kind of activity nearly every day. There are days when we cut the grass and prune the trees and bushes. There are days when we pull weeds. There are days for fertilizer. There are days for thatching. There are lots of days for watering -- especially in these hot Oklahoma summers! All of these activities, done in the proper proportions and at the appropriate times, ensure that our lawn is healthy and suitable for our enjoyment.
Isn't practical Christianity that way? Don't we have to perform certain activities in the proper proportions and at the appropriate times in order to ensure that our lives are suitable for serving Christ?
For me, I have to constantly pull the weeds out of my life. I'm not talking about the superficial modifications that we are sometimes called upon to make by psuedo-Christians. In Jesus' day, he was confronted by the religious leaders of the day about a bad "habit" his disciples had: "Your followers don't wash their hands!", said the Pharisees (Matt. 15:2). Jesus cleared that one up quickly: "It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man", he said, "but what comes out of the mouth... that's what defiles the man (v. 11)... the things that come out of the mouth proceed first from the heart: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries... these are what defile a man" (v. 19). My weed pulling takes place in my heart.
But the activity of weed pulling -- in the yard and in the heart -- is made easier if we use what the lawn people call "pre-emergent". That's a substance that is put on the yard in the spring and early fall to catch the weeds before they ever go to seed. Don't we need to do that spiritually too? I find that its important to keep the truth of God's word in my heart so that when the "weeds" come, I am convicted about my thoughts or behavior (Ps. 119:9). I have also found it important to have people in my life that hold me accountable. I make it a point to tell them that I am giving them permission to take me to task when they observe me being inconsistent.
My heart -- just like my lawn -- needs constant watering. I receive that watering/refreshing from God's presence in my heart. Jesus clearly said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23). The New Testament speaks often of the Spirit of God living in us. What a spectacular thought that our love for God is reciprocated by His dwelling in our hearts: "Christ in me!" (Rom. 8:10).
I find my fertilizer from my private Bible reading and study and from our corporate worship. These things energize and strengthen me. They prepare me for the trials and tribulations of life.
Finally, there's one of these yard activities that I find that God does for me: cutting the grass! Yes, while I'm pretty good at using the lawn mower and wielding the tree and bush pruners for my physical yard, only God can bring the right things into my life to "prune" it. Hardship, trial, unwanted change, and even suffering seem unfair most of the time. But God uses certain events of our lives to get rid of things that are unnecessary or unwelcome. Like someone has said, "You learn a whole lot more from failure than you do from success."
Living out my faith in a practical, godly way is like keeping my yard healthy: it takes all of the important elements and activities -- in the proper proportions and at the right times -- to obtain the results that God wants for me.
The next time you are working in your yard, think about how similar it is to God working in your life. We are his vineyard (Matt. 20:1) after all. At the Open Door Church, we can help you apply the proper elements to your life to make it healthy. Here, we're not afraid to ask questions, discuss the hard topics, and subject our own egos to God's will. Come and see.
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