The Lord has taken me through a few things recently that taught me a pretty valid lesson, IMHO. We have a smallish lot of around two acres, a little over half cleared. It was the very edge of an old homestead, and had to be cleared of a fair number of trees to get the site ready to build. That was 21 years ago. A lot of the area is just field grass, and some of it is devil's paintbrush and dandelions, but if I keep it mowed, it's green and even presentable -- well, for the sticks, anyway.
Toward the back of our property is a low area beyond the septic field that I had divested of trees and had kept mowed for several years. Then my rider mower quit running, and that was the first place that didn't mowed very often. Over the last few years, the thistles, rose bushes and raspberries have started reclaiming the land. Last year, by fall, the Canadian thistles were over 6 feet tall. They were starting to work their way out into the regular lawn.
So I decide, I am going to reclaim the land from the wild. Boy! What a lesson AND a workout. The stuff is about 4 feet high, and a tangled mess. Here's what I discovered:
1. In order for the land to return to the wild, I had to do absolutely NOTHING!
2. In order to RECLAIM the land from the wild, I had to do way more work to get it looking way worse than it ever did before.
3. Sweat was rolling off my brow. (and other places.
)
4. The land is quite scarred under the mess I removed.
5. It is going to take a lot more work to get the place anywhere close to what it was before.
NOW, the Application:
A. In order for our lives to return to the wild, it takes absolutely NO WORK!
B. It starts out small and just keeps getting worse.
C. Soon, it seems like an impossible task to get back to where you were.
D. Putting off doing something will still get NOTHING done.
E. It will take TOIL, SWEAT, LABOUR, and TIME to get it back, and it will not happen immediately.
The admonition:
i. Keep doing the things it took to keep your life sweet before the Lord.
ii. Stay in the word of God.
iii. Stay on your knees in prayer.
iv. Keep active in your service to the Lord.
v. Keep actively witnessing for the Lord.
vi. Don't slack off in your standard of life for the Lord.
vii. If you must change one of your standards, RAISE the bar, don't lower it!
I won't bore you with the scriptures, but here are some of the references we looked at.
Proverbs 22:5, Matthew 13:7, 22, Genesis 3:18, Proverbs 24:30-31, and the one that really rings my bell --
Jeremiah 4:3 -- "
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns." and its corollory verse in Hosea 10:12 "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for
it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you."
), I don't believe in luck. 