WHEN WE PLAY IN THE SOIL OF LIFE WE GET DIRTY
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
It gets easy to run out of words to describe the effects of kids playing in the dirt...they may start out clean and presentable to the public, but it does not take too long with them crawling around in the dirt for that appearance to change along with the attitude of the mother that dressed them and sent them outside to play.
We often associate getting dirty as being in sin within the church, but I don't think that Jesus had the same view of dirt as we do. Society has adopted the art of cleanliness as being the ultimate goal in being healthy, but if we have learned anything in life it is that this world lies to us more often than not, and leads us into thinking something that is not true at all. We have all heard the old saying " Cleanliness is next to Godliness", but is that true? After all we are supposed to be made of that same dirt that we reject so much.
" Ashes to ashes and dust to dust" seems to indicate an unwavering relationship with the dirt around us.
If we take the time to observe the child that is busy with their mind and talents to build and create as they play in the dirt we can see no connection to dirt and sin at all. It is a known fact that making mud pies will result in getting dirty, but it also means that the person who made the mud pies had to get involved with the mud before anything could be created. I have come to realize that the dirt does not represent sin as much as it represent life in it's base form. I believe that in order for anyone to create or teach those who are in that life anything of God they must not be afraid to get dirty. Some of us have gotten quite dirty in life as we worked with the muck and mire of the world around us. We are told in scripture that we will all have scars to show at the end of this life from the various battles waged. It is necessary to get dirty to understand life, and Jesus knew that during His ministry when He ate and had fellowship with the publicans and the sinners.
I can get pretty upset when people tend to judge someone who has had a "rough" background in life because in many ways that person can understand the dirt better than anyone else can. I would rather be the kind of person who can understand and feel the pain that someone comes to God with than someone who has only read about the problem but who has never experienced the pain. When we mentor someone in Christ it becomes a lot like making mud pies...we are going to get into the life of those who we are called to serve in Christ. Jesus was not as concerned about clean hands as He was a loving and loyal heart. I feel that if we start to look at soil...dirt...life differently we will begin to see the relevance that God has made to it in understanding who we are as vessels that holds the Spirit eternal that God has created within us, and which He will return to reclaim.
We will be talking more about this soil this week, and how we need to get more involved in cultivating it. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
It gets easy to run out of words to describe the effects of kids playing in the dirt...they may start out clean and presentable to the public, but it does not take too long with them crawling around in the dirt for that appearance to change along with the attitude of the mother that dressed them and sent them outside to play.
We often associate getting dirty as being in sin within the church, but I don't think that Jesus had the same view of dirt as we do. Society has adopted the art of cleanliness as being the ultimate goal in being healthy, but if we have learned anything in life it is that this world lies to us more often than not, and leads us into thinking something that is not true at all. We have all heard the old saying " Cleanliness is next to Godliness", but is that true? After all we are supposed to be made of that same dirt that we reject so much.
" Ashes to ashes and dust to dust" seems to indicate an unwavering relationship with the dirt around us.
If we take the time to observe the child that is busy with their mind and talents to build and create as they play in the dirt we can see no connection to dirt and sin at all. It is a known fact that making mud pies will result in getting dirty, but it also means that the person who made the mud pies had to get involved with the mud before anything could be created. I have come to realize that the dirt does not represent sin as much as it represent life in it's base form. I believe that in order for anyone to create or teach those who are in that life anything of God they must not be afraid to get dirty. Some of us have gotten quite dirty in life as we worked with the muck and mire of the world around us. We are told in scripture that we will all have scars to show at the end of this life from the various battles waged. It is necessary to get dirty to understand life, and Jesus knew that during His ministry when He ate and had fellowship with the publicans and the sinners.
I can get pretty upset when people tend to judge someone who has had a "rough" background in life because in many ways that person can understand the dirt better than anyone else can. I would rather be the kind of person who can understand and feel the pain that someone comes to God with than someone who has only read about the problem but who has never experienced the pain. When we mentor someone in Christ it becomes a lot like making mud pies...we are going to get into the life of those who we are called to serve in Christ. Jesus was not as concerned about clean hands as He was a loving and loyal heart. I feel that if we start to look at soil...dirt...life differently we will begin to see the relevance that God has made to it in understanding who we are as vessels that holds the Spirit eternal that God has created within us, and which He will return to reclaim.
We will be talking more about this soil this week, and how we need to get more involved in cultivating it. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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