Razor sharp & Crystal clear!
When we drive home from a place we have traveled to numerous times, often, we take the same, familiar path. However, there are times when we choose to go another way, take another path, hoping we still arrive home without too much delay.
On most Wednesday evenings, the path home from Bible study remains the same. Drive out of the parking lot, look both ways, cross two lanes of northbound traffic on the highway, and then turn left, driving south for a mile. Once reaching the first road, I turn right, driving the short distance across country roads leading me home. This is the familiar path, one that could almost be driven blindfolded.
A few nights ago, the journey home took a different route because I choose to drive through the center of the small town where we live. While not driven often, this path remains familiar. As I drove home this different way, I found myself traveling down the ‘old’ highway, driving along the railroad tracks. . This is where I saw the tree, one that should be growing upward toward the sky. Instead, the tree was growing oddly, leaning over the roadway. Surely, this tree is going to fall, and when it does, it will break right through the electric line strung along the roadway. Trees are to be planted in a space where they will grow UPWARD & SKYWARD, for a tree not growing properly cannot produce as it should.
- We know this to be true for agronomy (science of crop production & soil management) and dendrology (science of trees & growth) state it so.
- We also know this to be the TRUTH for the Bible says so.
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
(The Psalms 1: 1-3 NAS)
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
The Word of God provides all that we need to walk through this life we have been born to live. Within the pages of the Bible, we read God’s Truth, often given to us through certain verses: particular actions and thoughts we are to avoid and actions we are to embrace. Many unbelievers (the scoffers) say the life of a follower of Jesus requires one to follow rules (dos & don’ts), but the opposite is rather quite true. God’s Word planted deep within us, leads us in the way we are to go, through the Holy Spirit, to walk the narrow path that leads us home to God’s presence, to eternity in heaven. As we go, we are afforded conversations where we can speak Jesus to those who remain lost to God’s saving grace.
When driving home from church and seeing this tree growing all wrong, all because it had been planted in an improper place, it was easy to understand the biblical application. The Lord gave the apostle Paul these words to write to the believers (the Galatians).
“But I say, walk by the Spirit,
(The Letter of Paul to the Galatians 5: 16 NAS)
and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
God’s Word is razor sharp and crystal clear!
Walk by the Holy Spirit’s directions & Do not live for the sins of the flesh.
We are told WHY.
“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit,
(The Letter of Paul to the Galatians 5: 17 NAS)
and the Spirit against the flesh;
for these are in opposition to one another,
so that you may not do the things that you please.”
The Psalms are a discipleship of the inner life, and our inner being must be led by the Spirit of God. If not, we will be like that tree: growing in the wrong place and wrong way, leaning in the direction it should not lean.
That is not how a child of God should grow, for the saved ones are “like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, . . .” (The Psalms 1: 3a NAS)
We are told WHY this is so & what will be produced as we spiritually grow.
“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
(The Psalms 1: 3 NAS)
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
God’s Word is razor sharp and crystal clear!
Avoid: Immorality, Impurity, Sensuality, Idolatry, Sorcery, Enmities, Strife, Jealously, Outburst of Anger, Disputes, Dissensions, Factions, Envying, Drunkenness, Carousing, and anything like these. (a paraphrase of The Letter of Paul to the Galatians 5: 19-21)
Produce: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness & Self-Control. (a paraphrase of The Letter of Paul to the Galatians 5: 22-23)
To be sure, those planted in the Living Water will grow UPWARD & SKYWARD & will live & walk by the Spirit.
“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus
(The Letter of Paul to the Galatians 5: 24-25)
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit,
let us also walk by the Spirit.”