CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 809

“Lawn Maintenance”

James 1:21-22 (NIV) … get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says… and … keep … from being polluted by the world.

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I was recently admiring a lush, green, weed and disease free lawn and it dawned on me how much our human spiritual condition can be likened to lawn maintenance.

Lawns don’t start out lush, green and free of weeds.  Many start out as weedy, rough, rocky, debris laden soil full of roots and stumps.  The soil must be cleared, tilled, and prepared for it to support and nurture life.

In the same way many of us before coming to Christ allowed sin to destroy the life in our relationships.  Because of our sin lifestyle we stood as condemned as that vacant, weed-infested, rocky, debris laden lot.

Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. – James 4:7-8

Once having rejected our sin and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become born again by the Spirit of God.  Much like a fresh new lawn gives that rough, rocky lot a born again appearance.  But our work has only just begun.  We must remain active and diligent in our Christian walk.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…- 1 Pet 5:8-9

Compromising with less than pure soils and seed introduces invasive weeds that destroy the lawn.  A lack of proper watering makes the lawn susceptible to insects like chinch bugs and cutworms that live unseen beneath the surface and eventually choke the life out of the lawn.

Like our lawns, our spiritual health requires constant maintenance and diligence on our part to remain weed free and strong enough to withstand the storms of life.

…my dear friends… continue to work out your salvation … – Phil 2:12-13

Do you have a healthy root system, rooted deep in the living water of the Word of God?

Are you allowing some weeds to take root in your life through compromise?

Are you neglecting to feed your root system through worship, training and Christian fellowship?

Sin always takes us where we never intended to go. It keeps us there longer than we wanted, and ultimately sin costs us much more than we ever expected to pay.  As you spend time in lawn maintenance, may the Holy Spirit remind you of the need to maintain the ‘good soil’ of your heart also so that you may bear good fruit for the Kingdom of God.