Process of Elimination 2

 I use to be afraid of reading certain scriptures in the bible and not because of that good kind of fear either. I was literally afraid to read any other verses where God was angry, where it stated that He regretted anything, and where punishing those who refuse to adhere what is good and right (Ephesians 5:1-12 AMP). I don't call it the good fear because it kept me from reading the Word which adds life to my life. So I had to get over it a realize it was a ploy from the enemy who would prefer that I not live. If I listen to the sort of thinking not to read what the bible clearly tells me what to do, then I would be repeating what Eve did at the tree of good and evil, wouldn't I?

So I swallowed and rebuked those feelings and got through the verses. I could finally understand God's anger with a people He created and had as much trust in Him as they did for a rock to fly. That would tick me off as well. In fact, most parents do go through that sort of thing when their children become teenagers and think they know it all and should be given more responsibility when they just learned how to wipe their hip without leaving skid marks. I use the analogy with my children all of the time: if I tell you not to touch the stove and I show you all of the marks from when I tried to touch it myself... don't touch the stove! I am not trying to keep you from fun. I am trying to keep you from getting hurt or killing yourself! Would that our heavenly Father, the epitome of good, even more so would have the best for you? So not adhere to the instruction? We can't all be teenagers (1 Corinthians 13:11 KJV)!

Then there is the eliminating part. How can we keep from being left behind or cut off from the vine, or from being considered as tare rather then wheat? The Word tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6 KJV); therefore, this has to be the key to staying within the body of Christ, right? But there is more... faith in what? Is it more then believing that there is one higher then us? Is it more then believing that Jesus is the Son of God? Is it more then believing to do good to others? Is it more then treating people the way you like to be treated? It has to be because people aren't being raised in the admonition of the Lord like they once were. Some people don't know what is right unless it is taught to them. It is what Paul wrote in biblical times, how much more so is it now (Romans 7:11-23 AMP)?

I was in a Human Ecology class where a nun was teaching that a thief is a thief because he has changed his moral code in believing what is wrong is right. She even used the scripture for the class to believe everywhere in the bible that reads thief it means the change of the norm in the minds of people. I wasn't going to say anything but there was something that just didn't seem right with her way of thinking. Fine, if you don't believe that there is a Spirit world but to think that a thief is the way he is because he doesn't know what right is, is just odd. Why would he steal at night? Why does he look over his back? Why can't he trust anyone or anything including himself? If the thief believed that what he was doing is right, he would have no fear of the police. He would be confused as to why the woman on the street doesn't just give him her purse as opposed to him snatching it from her. He would knock on the door of the house he was burglarizing instead of sneaking in the window. The nun said nothing at my rebuttal of her lesson and just moved onto something else. I wondered if the nun truly believed what she was teaching why wouldn't she try to convince me otherwise?

It is what I believe the farmer meant when he told his helper that even though there were tares planted with the wheat, they might look the same for a little while but when it comes time to reap the harvest, you will be able to clearly see what is the wheat and what is the tare. The tare will be bundled together and be disposed of. It has no purpose. The tare is but a source of aggravation and if not dealt with can choke the wheat from bringing forth a full harvest. The harvest comes after the crop reaches maturity. How can we become more mature in Christ if our source of entertainment is partially nude music videos or soft pornographic movies? How can we maintain a renewed mind when the people we associate ourselves with are the same friends we had before we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior? How can we receive all that He has for us when we would rather believe a bad report from the doctor, dentist, FDA, news cast, lawyer, or a textbook then what Jesus said? If this is true, it is as if the tares grew up and choked the Word from you. How can the farmer recognize you as wheat when you look just like a tare?

In my travels, there are many highways that aren't maintained as well as they could be. Some use to be farmlands and there are remnants of the wild seed still trying to grow through and develop a harvest. Along the edges of the highway, there were these plants that blew in the breeze looking just like wheat. But when I looked closer to the actual farm that was being tended, the wheat was bent low and these other plants were covering over them. The wheat was golden and the other longer plants were gray-ish mauve. They hovered keeping the sun from them so they would never be strengthened to be any larger then they are. It was just about time for harvest. If I can tell which was which without any training, the farmer can even more so. It was just interesting to see how close some of the harvest came to its demise.

Just like the prodigal son, God gives us every opportunity to get it right. We have a book, churches all over to teach, we can even pray and be led to what it is we need to do all of which means nothing without the confession of Jesus as being Lord. How hard would it be just to believe to keep from the inevitable? If I don't know from what I write, life goes on. If you refuse to believe, its all over!