I saw some spiritual truths this week as I feebly ministered to people in the wake of hurricane Michael’s fury.
Every road I’ve traveled down this week, and every building I’ve entered, and every person I’ve met has reminded me of the frailty that exists in almost every thread of our lives. We are guaranteed very little. Almost anything we have can be taken in a moment – in the blink of an eye. The wind can blow and the rain can fall and the waves can crash. If your life doesn’t have a good foundation then the experience of your loss, and the reality of your loss can be very great. Houses without good foundations or good building codes do not stand in the storm. What I have seen this week illustrates this spiritual truth in ways that only people who have survived a storm can truly understand. People who have Jesus as a rock and foundation – or a building code – have a life that stands after the strongest storms.
As I walked through one woman’s back yard I was constantly tripping over vines. They hindered my ability to remove debris, and to help her right her yard. I cursed the vines because they were in my way. But then I realized a spiritual truth. Satan uses sins and attitudes and rebellion to grow vines in our lives that make it harder for the Holy Spirit to move through our hearts and to right our ways. What if we allowed Jesus to grow vines in our lives that made it harder for Satan to move through our minds – vines like love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness and self control. How many of these vines might grow if we simply served Jesus by serving others at least as much as we serve ourselves.
I pray that we can all learn these truths without the storm.
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