christian living

Unless the Lord Builds the House, or Grows the Figs

/ Bill Jones / 8 Comments

Fig Preserves

We finally found success. Sharon was able to make strawberry-fig preserves this year.

I’m not sure how long we’ve had the tree but it’s been a while. There were 2 or 3 winters that were cold enough to kill it back and it would start over. The last few years there haven’t been enough figs at one time to gather (but I did munch on them as I walked by the tree).

Fig Tree – Fruitful after all these years

Here’s the tree that finally bore the good crop this year. It’s still relatively young, so hopefully we can look forward to many more years of figs.

I guess the lesson is to be patient – continue working with your trees (or your Bible Study, or your ministries, or your prayer life, or yourself, etc.) and hope and plan for the best. And, of course, rely on God’s help, because nothing will be successful without Him.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalms 127:1 ESV

Can Weeds Reveal the Glory of God?

/ Bill Jones / 16 Comments

Volunteer Weeds

We’ve all heard the saying that a weed is any plant in the wrong place. I’ve had several plants this year in the wrong place (or at least I didn’t put them there) but I wouldn’t call them weeds. I’ve posted about all the sunflowers the birds dropped around the yard that brightened up everything wonderfully. (If you look closely you can see the bumblebee on one of them)

Volunteer Grain

I assume the plant above came from bird seed from one of the feeders in the back yard. It did quite well where it wasn’t supposed to be. And I like it there. (Good timing and contrast with the guara that’s faded for the season.)

Volunteer Vines

These vines come back each year along the fence. I never planted them there – they just showed up. I look forward now each year to them coming back. Just what the fence needed.

Joe Pye Weed

I had to put this one in since it’s called a weed – and it’s exactly where I planted it.

I do have real weeds (and quite a few of them) in the garden and flower beds by this time of the summer. They are definitely the wrong plants in the wrong places – but I’ll work on removing them along and along.

Thinking about weeds brought this Scripture to mind: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

We can be in the wrong place if we’re out of the will of God (and that’s a different blog post). But, if we’re following Him, God may choose a number of different places for us. Because He chooses them, they’re the right places. I believe we can properly expand the verse above to include not just whatever we do, but to add wherever we are.

Even if we seem to be in the wrong place, we can be like the plants above that aren’t called weeds anymore. They became welcome companions because in their beauty, they reflected the glory of God.

Different From the World Can Be a Good Thing

/ Bill Jones / 10 Comments
Shrimp Plant

Shrimp Plant

Here’s a Shrimp Plant Sharon and I bought at a Flea Market a few years ago. I don’t know what the scientific name is, but the colors and curl do resemble a shrimp. Something different, at least around here.

And different can be a good thing, especially if it means different from the world around us. Caleb demonstrated that when he and Joshua were the only spies who came back from the Promised Land with faith that they could succeed because God was with them.

“But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.”  Numbers 14:24

The Disciples Didn’t Get It, Until…

/ Bill Jones / 7 Comments
English: The Last Supper, showing Jesus, at th...

Jesus said: “One of you shall betray me”.

“And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And, as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” Mark 14:17-19 ESV

We read in the Gospels that the disciples often just didn’t get it. They were with Jesus and He was teaching them and showing His power through miracles on a daily basis. But, because they didn’t get it, Jesus’ words to them often began with “Oh, ye of little faith”.

The disciples were there when Jesus fed five thousand men (plus women and children) from a few loaves and fishes. Yet, not long after that, Jesus asked them about feeding four thousand and they said it couldn’t be done.

Jesus kept repeating the fact that He was going to Jerusalem to die. Yet, they took it to mean He was going to start His earthly reign, and spent time arguing over which of them would get the highest office in that kingdom. They just didn’t get it.

However, in the Scripture above, during what we call The Last Supper, they did get it. When Jesus said one of them would betray Him, they didn’t accuse each other and point fingers of guilt. No, each of them sorrowfully recognized his own weakness and asked the troubling question “Is it I?”

Before we start condemning them, we need to ensure we get it. We need to recognize we have no real strength without Jesus. We may not betray Him in the same manner He described, but we can betray our faith in many different ways.

The assurance comes, though, in that we don’t have to act on our own strength. 1 John 4:4 tells us Whose strength we can rely on:

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 ESV