“For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those (A) for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and (B) close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. Hebrews 6:7-8:
Message “Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why, they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!” But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.”
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
thedailylily.com 
One of the most noxious, troublesome weeds affecting agronomic crops is the thistle. I read for example that the Canada thistle is considered a noxious weed in 39 of the United States and occurs worldwide. It can reduce desirable crop production, devalue property value and may even produce a poison from its roots that kills surrounding plants. It is very aggressive and once it gets a foothold in a field it is hard to eradicate it. Its seeds can live in the soil for 21 years. Watchful prevention of allowing it to establish and maintaining a dense, healthy desirable food crop are the best means of control.
So when I read the above scripture and think about it, I ask myself, ‘how did that field that got such good rain, etc. get to be so full of thistles and thorns?’ Was it lousy soil? Didn’t it get enough fertilizer? Was it so barren that nothing else ever grew there? Or could it be that perhaps it was a good productive field but lack of watchfulness and proper maintenance allowed thistle to get a foothold . Maybe some thistle weed seed snuck in unseen in a bag of crop seed. Or rode in from a neighbor’s infested field imbedded in the tractor’s tire treads. Maybe a bird dropped some or the wind blew it in during a storm.
If the field represents our walk, life or heart and we are growing and overcoming sin, trials and temptations through obedience to God’s word, we eventually will see a harvest of ‘carrots and corn’. Our gifts will develop and we will see ourselves doing our part in making disciples of all nations’. But if after experiencing victory and vitality in our lives we fall back into old fleshly patterns (the sins that so easily entangle us) and don’t appropriate God’s power to overcome through His redemptive work on the cross, then have we not ‘turned our back on it’ as is written in the blog? If we have then we will see thistles taking over and if not dealt with will eventually lose what could have been a valuable harvest.
Each of us must examine and check up on ourselves to determine if we are being honest with our own selves. One of the biggest sins that we commit against our own souls is deluding and deceiving ourselves and living a lie, instead of living our lives in Spirit and in TRUTH.
“That’s the way that I am; that’s just my personality; I can’t help it because that’s the way I was brought up”; These are many of the EXCUSES we bring forth when confronted by a challenge to change something about ourselves , ” spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” We lie to ourselves make excuses and ‘pet” that addiction, distortion or annoying trait that so easily besets us, fearful and unwilling to go through the pain of changing it, maybe fearful that we would lose something of ourselves in the process. But in actuality, that is what is needed….to lose more of OURSELVES to become LESS so that the CHRIST in us can become more. Why do we continually opt to choose our SELF to extend to the world when in John it says, “the Flesh counts for NOTHING!” Why do we want to promote IT instead of the CHRIST within us.
We cannot promote the Kingdom of GOD and “feed His sheep” with thorns and thistles propagated by idle, unprepared soil…weeds because we have taken too much time to cultivate the ego the ME instead of the I AM.
My little knowledge of gardening comes from my Mother. As I watched her garden from my’ little eyes’ I always understood that a garden calls for daily weeding. She would quickly walk through and pull weeds as she meander down her rows. The weeds and thorns never had a chance to take a prime place in her garden. We could all feast our eyes on the beauty of her garden while our meal tables displayed a fresh array of cuisine. The taste still lingers in my memories.
So, my thoughts of these scriptures are to continue to mature in my faith by always weeding my garden, ie my heart and mind.
That’s a lovely picture you painted with your thoughts Sara. Wisdom for daily maintenance. Just like reading and being a part of The Daily Lily is a daily prescription, a watering of the spirit and soul for keeping a weed free garden. My grandmother thought the best time to weed was right after a rain so off we would go with hoe and hands as weeds pulled up so much easier after the ground had a drink.
Wow Gary this sure is one powerful scripture…we need to recognize the very sprout of the thorns and thistles and get them before they mature and just take off growing in our field…….and we need to do just what Saras mother taught them by activily and daily taking care of the field to get a glorious harvest for the King….and that is not just in us singularly but to help others when they dont see the weed coming up in their field… we need to point it out but they need to pull it up…..(I think we can some time help them pull only if they really want and need the help)…..right?.dj
Debi has explained how aggressive the Canada thistle is, and how it stifles the life of other plants. It is interesting to me that one has nothing to do…to keep the “worthless” plant alive and well, but it takes dedication and work to keep the meaningful plants alive. If we turn our backs on dedication, work, prayer, and God’s Word, then we leave our lives/fields, open to the worthless thistles to grow and stifle out any good harvest. Paul said in Phil. 3:12-16 ” I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.”
Needles thanks for sharing Phil. 3:12-16. Yes if we disagree on some point God will make it plain to us. I have witnessed this in my life. Going to some spiritual meeting as a youth I would occasionally think the speaker a little off and later discovered the speaker spoke truth from God’s word. God’s job of building character coupled with wisdom takes a lot of dedication and work. Living without boundaries and work causes weeds or an undisciplined life. God gives us the discipline and Satan doesn’t care.
Gary, in your Sunday teaching from Luke 11 vs. 8, also 5-10 where Jesus used the word persistence. He was teaching us persistence in prayers, along with a sense of urgency and boldness. Jesus was showing us that persistence is necessary for us not for Him. A great big red reminder sign that says, be persistent in prayer, be earnest and do it with all your heart. This chapter also reminds us not to have a divided house. It seems that the solution for this vs. in Hebrews you have given us above has some root system in Luke11. Persistence can be translated vs. 8 of Luke as importunity, maybe shamelessness.
Which says to me, Don’t be divided in your thoughts, actions and prayer. Keep the weeds and thistles out of your mind so your heartfelt love for others can grow and give life and hope.
“May you be rooted and grounded in love…” (Ephesians 3:17)
Hey, maybe if we were tress of righteousness and grounded in love, weeds and thistles couldn’t bother us. Nobody bothers me! I’m a tree!
Hey Sara you are right! Psams 1 says Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brigeth forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not wither; and what soever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Matthew 13 : 24-30 “24 Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. 27 “The farmer’s workers went to him and said,’Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ 28″‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. 29″‘No,’he replied,’you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.'””
This Parable about the weeds is very clear. We must becareful. I sure don’t want to be a weed at harvest time. I pray that the harvester will store me in the barn with the rest of the wheat. Thank you Jesus for these awesome Parables. Provide us with the knowledge and understanding that we need.
Debi, I’ll bet these weeds spread as fast as the Canada Thistle.
Probably faster, chickenfarmer. And I notice from this parable that the even though the weeds grew right next to the wheat, got the same rain and the same sun and fertilizer, and lots of fellowship, that they never changed into wheat. It reminds me of Sara’s blog ‘Study with Sara-A Beautiful Leopard
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007’…can a leopard change his spots?