Marriage Workshop with Mark Broyles
April 25, 2010
Title: Marriage Workshop with Mark Broyles
Location: Hickman Mills church of Christ
Start Date: 2010-05-21
End Date: 2010-05-23
Clearing Out the Dead Wood
April 25, 2010
by Alan Cornett
One of the great things about our yard is that it has a lot of trees. I’ve discovered one of the frustrating things about our yard is that it has a lot of trees.
A tree crew descended on my yard this week to remove two of those trees. One passed from this life last summer, an Ash the victim disease. It looked strong and hearty, a good twenty feet tall. Another tree in the yard still looked very much alive, but with only a tenuous connection to the ground. Root rot had caused it to lean over toward my shed, which was saved only by the electrical box (!) that held the it up. Both trees have a future as firewood.
Some people have spiritual lives like those trees. A lifetime of spiritual focus has given them genuine growth. They seem to be towering figures of Christianity. But then something happens, a temptation, a life change. Last spring the Ash tree seemed fine at first. New leaves started, but then froze in immaturity. What the tree had done dozens of times before it was now unable to accomplish. It couldn’t push through, it gave up and it died. Had you looked at it the prior year, or five years ago, no one would have thought such a thing would happen. How many Christians can you recall thinking the same about? How many Christians have disappeared from God’s service—no longer living for the Lord—who you saw as living, thriving, active only last year, two years ago, five years ago? What happened? Can it happen to you?
The second tree seemed to be facing spring quite brightly. The leaves were coming out strong and green. They seemed unaware of any problem; however, the only reason there was any connection to the ground was because the tree was partially propped up by that electrical box. Not only that, but the tree had become a real danger. My storage shed (and pocketbook!) would suffer serious damage when that tree fell. We let the connection to our source of sustenance and strength decay and rot often without noticing it. We go on, oblivious to our impending fall, unaware that others have propped us up, unaware that we may do serious damage to others because of our lack of spiritual health. To glimpse at us everything seems fine, but in reality we are about to land with a thud.
Of the barren fig tree in the parable, Jesus said that the tree needed to be fertilized so that it might begin to yield fruit or else “Why should it use up the ground?” (Luke 13:6-9) We have to be aware of the health of our connection to our source of sustenance, Jesus. (John 15:5) We cannot rest on past spiritual accomplishments. We must stand for Christ until the end (Revelation 2:10). If we do not keep our spiritual focus and seek constant nourishment from the Lord we may be surprised one day to find ourselves no longer living for him.
And like the end the trees in my yard, our eternal future will not be what we desire. “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:9).”