The Good Portion

Things were quiet until she moved into the neighborhood. Then came the loud, joyless laughter, the angry shouting, and the profanity, lots and lots of profanity. I judged her long before I laid eyes on her. This is not someone I want to know. But there was a time when I was the person I would not want to know. That was before God saved me. And even now, truth be told, there are times when I still feel that other person’s heart beating right alongside the brand new one Christ has given me. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespass...

In my yard there are many weeds. We label plants as weeds when they exist only for themselves. They provide us no fruit, and worse, they destroy the plants that do. As I’ve undertaken rooting out my weeds out by hand, I’ve noticed how many weeds closely resemble the good plants that they destroy. This close resemblance gives them more time to work their damage before they can be identified and dug out. This is how sin works in our lives and in our church. It mimics spirituality. It makes us feel spiritual and righteous, or at least more spiritual and righteous than others, while in truth it is not spiritual at all. It is living “according to the flesh.” “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6) The Scriptures reveal many ways to live...