OK, I admit. I don’t have much time to do a lot of work in my yard. I have about 8 blades of actual grass, and the rest of the .75 acres that I mow are weeds. When it is really short it can give an illusion of looking nice, but maybe that’s another devotional thought altogether! I am actually thinking of my backyard which part of my property is forest. It’s not a large portion, .05 acres, but it is dense and takes a lot of time to control. I’ve found that if I don’t actively control it and try to push it back some, it will creep into my yard and take it over. If I had some awesome power tools, it would be one thing. Alas, I have a machete. One little blade against a rainforest. Well, maybe a little hyperbole, but you get my drift.
Where’s the spiritual analogy? I was reading today in Acts 6 and the part after the beginning of the deacons caught my attention. The Apostle Stephen was proclaiming God’s Word and the gospel. Obviously, there was some opposition. It came from a group called the “Synagogue of the Freedmen”. I found out that this group was comprised of former slaves (good) from areas heavily influenced by Hellenism (bad).
Hellenism could easily correspond to our secularization of society today. In a nutshell, the two cultures are very “go with the flow” and “do what you want” in nature. This mentality and worldview encroaches on the Christian worldview in much the same way as my backyard forest does to the rest of my lawn. It tries to take over. We read in Acts 6 that the Freedmen couldn’t out-do Stephen in his arguments, so they took the low road. They started to spread lies, twisted truths, get the officials involved, and make a mess of the whole thing.
Isn’t that what those who are opposed to the faith do today? Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t Christians who add fuel to the fire… but the secular worldview is that Christianity is just plain wrong, just because. They can’t provide real evidence against it, so they try to twist it to their advantage. The truth of God’s Word and the message of the cross is worth standing firm against the trickery of the world. Even if you’re just armed with a little machete, you can help keep the forest at bay.
Until next time!
Shedding Light 