It's Time For Us To Mow... Again.

It's amazing how much the Lord teaches me when I mow the lawn. One reason is because He has me alone for a few hour while I am mowing. There is nothing else I can do. It's a great time to just listen to what the Lord has to say to me. Since God has me outside, He tends to teach me using what I see out there, which usually means – grass.


Because I have been so busy lately with school starting, I haven't mowed as much as needed. In fact, it was quite high. Knowing that if I mowed it on the current setting it would constantly choke the mower, I decided to raise it up a notch or two. Even raising the bar there were a few areas it was difficult to get through. However, I kept thinking about how it really wasn't mowed down to the level it should be, meaning I would have to mow again sooner than normal. I had done what I could for the time being, but in the long run it wouldn't be enough.

Once again, the Spirit prodded my heart: That grass is like our sins. It is something we are always having to cut back, and there are times when we let it grow way too high. When that happens, it may be necessary for us to cut it down with more frequent mowings at gradually lower levels.

Let's say that Christians are the ones with mowed yards, and the unsaved have wild fields. When someone decides to follow Christ and “start mowing their yard”, we can't send them out there with our little push-mowers on their low settings. They'd never make it. That's not to say that Jesus doesn't come with His big ole' bush whacker to clear the field sometimes. He may. But even with that, there are a lot of thorns and wild plants who have to be mowed over many times before they die away.

So what does that mean to Christians? Ease up on each other. Jesus said we are to forgive 70 x's 7 (Matthew 18:22), and remember: You have your own yard to mow. That isn't saying we should never speak up when there is “unmowed” sin going on. The same passage tells us in Matthew 18:15-20 that we are to privately confront our siblings in Christ when they have sinned against you. Don't spread the fact and don't harbor it.

I'm going to ask you to pray to the Lord and listen to Him for more than just a moment. Ask Him to guide your heart on the very narrow path of compassion, grace, righteousness, and holiness. I think the definition of all these qualities have been taken to unhealthy extremes in our society, and it is our job to find the balance God desires from us. Take time to define each and find their good qualities and how, perhaps, we as humans have misinterpreted them.