There used to be a wire fence between our house and our vegetable garden, now there are just vestiges of it. At one time the tree in the photo and the fence were distinct - the tree did not belong to the fence and the fence did not belong to the tree. But what does the photo below tell us? Portions of the fence are now deep within the tree, the tree has absorbed elements of the fence.
The Bible tells us to flee sin in its myriad forms (1 Cor. 6:18, 10:14; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22). Paul asks in 2 Cor. 6:14, "What fellowship has light with darkness?"
What fellowship has a tree with a wire fence?
We may think that we can coexist with sin, we may think that we can live alongside sin, but such thinking (thinking we are the exception) leads to sin being embedded within us. Were I to cut the wire from each side of the tree there would still be wire within the tree - a newcomer to our home would not know this, but I would know it.
We may try to hide embedded sin, but God knows all about it and He desires to remove it from our lives, He yearns to deliver us from sin and its power, and in fact He has done so through Christ and the Cross (Romans 5:12 - 8:39). O that we would surrender our souls and minds and hearts to Jesus, considering ourselves "dead unto sin but alive unto God" (Romans 6:11).
Our "experience" should not be our norm, nor should it be our exegetical lens - what Christ has done is miraculous and surpasses our understanding, it is indeed a mystery; by God's Word we become participants in the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4). By God's Word we are born again (1 Peter 1:22 - 25).
Our experience ought not to interpret God's Word, God's Word should interpret our experience; and if our experience falls short of God's Word, then let us be supremely confident that our Father desires to transform us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) - today, in this life, so that others may come to know Jesus.
Our "experience" should not be our norm, nor should it be our exegetical lens - what Christ has done is miraculous and surpasses our understanding, it is indeed a mystery; by God's Word we become participants in the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4). By God's Word we are born again (1 Peter 1:22 - 25).
Our experience ought not to interpret God's Word, God's Word should interpret our experience; and if our experience falls short of God's Word, then let us be supremely confident that our Father desires to transform us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) - today, in this life, so that others may come to know Jesus.
If there are embedded fence wires in our lives today let us call out to our Lord Jesus, for He alone is loving and caring and wise enough to remove them from our lives...without killing the tree.
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