As I look back at my life I can see that my life has been each of the soils that Jesus talks about at one point or another. I can also look back and say with sadness that I wish my life was like the good soil more often than it is.
There are times when influences, circumstances, mindsets, needs and wants take the good soil of my life and pollute it with rocks and weeds. This is the bad news and the stuff of life we all face. But there is good news.
If you where to decide to grow a garden at your home and you only find soil that is rocky and/or full of weeds. You could give up on the garden or you can work the ground and make it good soil by removing the pollutants. By working the soil and replacing the bad stuff with good soil, amendments, and fertilizers. You change the condition of the soil from unable to grow good fruits to soil that will produce good fruit.
Thank God that as we have recently celebrated Easter and all that Christ did through the death and The Resurrection we can be reminded that the things that are needed to turn bad unproductive soil to soil that produces great crops has been offered to us through Jesus. All we have to do is open our lives our soil to the work that needs to be done. We just need to offer him our weeds and our rocks so he can replace them with the amendments, fertilizers, and good soil we need.
This was a part of my recent experience at the Men's conference I went to. As I was finishing that last part of Max Lucado's book "He Choose the Nails" Max addresses the need to take the trash of our lives to the cross of Jesus. We need to place it at the foot of the cross. Once it is at the foot of the cross the blood shed by Jesus can run over it covering it in his covenant, his righteousness, and his promise to make us into righteousness. He takes his good soil and uses it to replace the bad stuff in our lives making us good soil.
So this is my challenge to each of us today. What weeds do you see in your life? Is there seeds of weeds that are being planted because of the things you choose to expose yourself to? What rocks are there in your life? Is there circumstances, thoughts and behaviors in your life that instead of bring them to the surface you keep them buried in the soil? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see these things, the pollutants in your life keeping you from seeing the great production and good fruit in your life. Then when you see something take it to the cross and leave it there. Sometimes it will be hard and you may go back and pick it up. But to see the fruit of good soil you have to take it back to the cross. Thank you Jesus that there is forgiveness even forgiveness for our attachment and unwillingness to let the rocks and weeds go.
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