From Wasteland to Fertile Follower

 

Jeremiah 17: 5-8; 5) “This is what the Lord says. ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6) He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7) But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8) He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream, it does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

           When you honestly look at your life, do verses 5 & 6 sound familiar? This described my life, before I opened my heart to the One that created me, Jesus Christ. Before that time, I not only trusted in myself, but looked to others for help. I thought that God’s ways were too stringent, there was no bend in His rules. So, I set off on my own path, have you done the same? My happy times were far and few between, material riches were never enough, my relationships were nose diving. “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sores, then Ephraim turned to Assyria, and sent to the great king for help. But he is not able to cure you, not able to heal you sores.” Hosea 5:13 (NIV). Whether I called on others for help, or went it alone, the strength of my humanness NEVER overcame my sinful nature. Going it by alone only brought heartache, and eternal death, separated from the One that died for our sins. Until I surrendered to Christ, I lived a life in the darkness of my sins experiencing constant inner turmoil.

          As I continued my sinful ways, my eyes and ears saw and heard the ways of this world. I trusted who I heard and saw nothing wrong with gaining what I wanted no matter who I stepped on to get it. “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. Psalm 146:3 (NIV). “Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf, “Proverbs 11:28 (NIV). As my sinfulness continued, my walk strayed so for off course that Christ’s glorious light was but a speck on the horizon. My life was so out of control I was headed for the wall. “Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.” Jeremiah 5:25 (NIV).

          Well I hit the wall. I was broken and my life, I felt, was destroyed for good. But Christ took a hold of my outstretched hand. He bound my wounds and began to heal my brokenness. I opened His word and the power of that word opened my eyes, mind and heart. I allowed the Holy Spirit to enter in, and heal me. Through the power of God’s word, I began to trust in Jesus and allow Him to guide and direct my words and actions. “The Lord is good, a refuge in time of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” Nahum 1:7 (NIV). “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 (NIV). As I healed, through the study of the bible, the inner turmoil begins to settle. The storms in my life that once swirled around me due to my sinfulness, subsides. I grow in Christ through His life-giving word. Just as the tree beside the stream grows because of the water that its roots can tap into, the living water that flows from Jesus, began to bring about a blooming in my life. I begin to be refreshed and grow. “His young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.” Hosea 14:6 (NIV).

          So, my hope in Jesus grew because my roots began to go deep into God’s word, that has become the firm foundation I now stand on “The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and sky will tremble.  But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” Joel 3:16 (NIV). My attitude is now one of looking ahead because my past is over. Jesus’ blood has washed my sins away and I am filled with the desire to tell of my change. I am directed to try to spare others from a fate like mine. I now live to bear the fruit of salvation, through Christ, for others to see in my life, and hear through my testimonies. Christ Jesus works through me to bring others unto Him, so that His living water will flow through me, to water their souls, so that they may produce the Spiritual fruit needed to draw others to Him. “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalm 1:3 (NIV).

        So, I pray that you too will accept Christ as your Savior, so that the “water,” that is His love for you found in His word, will flow over you. If you allow that to happen His love will become evident to you and you will then be on your way to proclaim that love to others. Then they will see the change in your life and come to Jesus themselves.