Thoughts of Grace: There's something not right if you hang your apples on the tree with wire
Imagine you go to your Grandma's house and go to her legendary Apple Tree. You extend a hand to reach for a piece of taste apple goodness.
But something is wrong.
The apple is fine. But the tree is dark, disfigured, warped, and crumbling. The apple is attached to the dead tree arm with a thin piece of wire.
The apple is as good as ever.
But that doesn't change the fact the tree is extremely dead. Even if magically the tree made that fruit, it will not make fruit anymore.
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People often treat applications the same way.
Hear that Jimmy stopped watching Pokemon, cuz the creatures weren't real, and taught him to live in a dream world? Well, before you burn all your paraphenialia, consider this: What idea in Jimmy caused him to come to that conclusion?
You see, applications and changes in lifestyle should be the blossoming of the mind and concern for the soul.
It would be something like - the next time you hear someone giving up say, playing video games. Don't just drop the games, ask the reasons why they did it. if you cannot find out more information, take all new lifestyles for holiness with this thought:
They saw a part of their relationship with God rotting. Which part was it? And is there a rotten patch in me?
So the next time someone gives up Watching Tv, go and pray and see how you are doing with the lord. Don't apply anything yet. Let the lord show you where you need to trim and prune. If we do this, we will fix the tree of thoughts that will bear many fruits of application. The more we are diligent to develop the tree of consciousness, the more and various fruits will be produced.
Remember, all changes in lifestyle show a change in thinking and in valuing the world vs. God. So when you try to put on new application, strive to put on a change of heart and mind, rather that of behavior.
And when your small group leader/discipler tells you what he has been thinking, think on it! Talk about it! Let the understanding you get from those talks shape your actions in your sliver of life. Consider all the ideas and truths! Think of them over and over again! The word never returns empty, your convictions will come, and your actions will then be compelled from within, and not from without.
Summary: If a tree has no fruit compared to other trees. No grandma will polish the fruit that grows on the tree. She will not take fruit from one tree and place it on the other. She will water the trunk. Even more than the fruitful trees.
But something is wrong.
The apple is fine. But the tree is dark, disfigured, warped, and crumbling. The apple is attached to the dead tree arm with a thin piece of wire.
The apple is as good as ever.
But that doesn't change the fact the tree is extremely dead. Even if magically the tree made that fruit, it will not make fruit anymore.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
People often treat applications the same way.
Hear that Jimmy stopped watching Pokemon, cuz the creatures weren't real, and taught him to live in a dream world? Well, before you burn all your paraphenialia, consider this: What idea in Jimmy caused him to come to that conclusion?
You see, applications and changes in lifestyle should be the blossoming of the mind and concern for the soul.
It would be something like - the next time you hear someone giving up say, playing video games. Don't just drop the games, ask the reasons why they did it. if you cannot find out more information, take all new lifestyles for holiness with this thought:
They saw a part of their relationship with God rotting. Which part was it? And is there a rotten patch in me?
So the next time someone gives up Watching Tv, go and pray and see how you are doing with the lord. Don't apply anything yet. Let the lord show you where you need to trim and prune. If we do this, we will fix the tree of thoughts that will bear many fruits of application. The more we are diligent to develop the tree of consciousness, the more and various fruits will be produced.
Remember, all changes in lifestyle show a change in thinking and in valuing the world vs. God. So when you try to put on new application, strive to put on a change of heart and mind, rather that of behavior.
And when your small group leader/discipler tells you what he has been thinking, think on it! Talk about it! Let the understanding you get from those talks shape your actions in your sliver of life. Consider all the ideas and truths! Think of them over and over again! The word never returns empty, your convictions will come, and your actions will then be compelled from within, and not from without.
Summary: If a tree has no fruit compared to other trees. No grandma will polish the fruit that grows on the tree. She will not take fruit from one tree and place it on the other. She will water the trunk. Even more than the fruitful trees.
posted by Tim Lee at 9:38 PM
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