Day 278 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series
While looking out our back window earlier I was admiring the trees standing across our property. Some of the trees still hold limbs that were snapped during the ice storm 2 years ago, dangling in the breeze. Other new limbs have sprouted out of some of the trees and leaves are starting to bud out from the limbs. One majestic oak stands in the background, limbs like huge arms extending across the sky. Some of the trees were very damaged in the storm and are only dead stick protruding through the ground, lifeless, biding their time until they decompose enough to snap and fall to the ground.
All of these trees have similar beginning, roots if you will. They started from seeds, deposited in the ground from another tree. Some of these trees are 100 years old or older and some are only a few years old, but they all started with a seed. That is the law of nature, seeds go into the ground and life springs forth.
This reminds me of the parable of the soil types found in 3 of the gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. There are 4 soil types that the Lord tells us about, 1) Hardened soil that totally rejects the seed (Gospel) 2) Rocky soil that bears fruit for a moment and then burn up for lack of root depth 3) Thorny soil that springs up, but is killed by the thorn bushes around it and finally 4) The good soil, that produces much fruit. Of the 4 only the last is someone truly converted, the others 2 showed momentary hope and died and the other no hope at all. What stayed the same was the seed that was sown, the Gospel. It was not tailored to each individual soil to make it more palatable, but was sown as the Lord commands. The difference in the types of soil can be seen easily as 1) people that are totally resistant to anything of God 2) those that initially show signs of repentance, but quickly get jaded. Most of the time it is those that are looking for temporary circumstances to be "fixed" so they "try" Christianity, which does not work for them since it was not true faith 3) Like the 2nd shows initial hope of true repentance, but is quickly smothered out by people and circumstances.
I was also venture to say that most of the professing Christians today fall into the 2nd and 3rd soil types. They made a momentary profession of faith, but have since fallen or never even showed the fruit of a true child of God. The thing is is that the modern "Gospel" message that permeates church buildings and crusades today is perfectly fine with these types of professions and readily calls these folks Christians. They give the hope needed in these poor souls that they are "OK" now and have "taken care of it", as long as they "really, really meant it. Really". These people hope lies in faith in a prayer, a proclamation by an alter worker, a walk down an aisle, signing a card stating they "accepted Jesus", but not actually in Jesus. Their faith is in their faith or the words of a man. All of these lead to hell and many are being sent there because of these heresies.
These people are who my heart breaks for. I was one of them for 30 years as I had faith in my faith and in the acknowledgment of a man. False converts are deceived, they believe a lie as truth and are therefore unwilling to believe the truth as the truth. That is why God has to change someone. He changed me, changed my perception of the lies and actually saved me from me, hell and my dishonoring life of sin. These people need much prayer and also need the seed of the True Gospel sown in their hearts, so God can make it take root and sprout in the good soil that He prepares.
Please pray for eyes to be opened. Pray that you are made aware of those around you that are lost and deceived so you can till their hearts with the Good News. Cast the Seed far and wide and leave the results to God. Do not expect yourself to be able to change someone's mind or heart, that's God's job. Just be a mouthpiece for what God has done for you and to you, share the Gospel of scripture then watch God work.
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