Uprooting lies

When I was renting an apartment I couldn't wait till I was a homeowner and now that I am a homeowner I am envious of the times when I didn't hold the responsibility of having a house.

Spring is here.. (Finally!) I think (Knock on wood) maybe.

With spring here comes the responsibility of taking care of my outdoor activites. I need to do some repairs on my fence (or declare it dead), cut the lawn, and of course pull the weeds.  On the side of my house we have a nice gardening area with a lot of potential. But as ever person who has ever worked in a garden knows it is a lot of work!


God is good and so without any work somehow we have some flowers. But I spent an hour and started pulling weeds today. As I was pulling weeds I tried as hard as I could to not just pull the top of the weed but get the roots as well.

Then I started thinking of Jesus. If He was here, which I believe He always is, what could He teach me? He seemed to take the "ordinary" day to day chores and create a teaching lesson. So I spoke, "Jesus will you teach me a parable?"

He quickly reminded me of the parable of the good Soil. This is the story He taught where seed was planted on different types of soil and depending on where it was planted affected if the seed produced a harvest.

Thanks Jesus. Anything more?

What if a bad seed was planted in good soil?

You see in his parable the seed was good and the soild affected the outcome. But what we planted a lie in our mind. A faulty system. A virus. A weed?

Because that's what happens when we believe a lie. It is rooted so deep into our lives that we believe it is the truth. And we try to replace the lie with the truth but many times we are just cutting off the surface. If we don't take out the root the weed will just grow back.

So how do we destroy the root cause?

I believe most if not all lies are found in three connected categories.

1) My view of God.
2) My view of myself.
3) My view of others.

Number 1- Do I believe God is good?

Disclaimer: By Good I do not mean, "God will always give me what I want."

I do mean He will always give me what I need. He will always provide, protect, and love me to the fullest extent possible.

Its easy to allow our circumstances to dictate how we view God. You pray for your sick Aunt with cancer and she still dies. Is God good? Does He care?

You get fired from your job.

Your house burns down.

Is God good? Is God at fault?

The foundation of the Christian believe system much be: "I know God is good because He demonstrated his love for me on the cross."

Number 2- Do I believe I am good?

This was is tricky. Some churches teach "original sin." I do not have time to fight for or against "orginal sin" here.

But I do what to argue for is your identity as a child of God.

Am I valuable? Do I have worth? Am I a child of the king?

When storms comes are we questioning these foundational truths? Or can we stand firm in believing we are valuable?


Number 3- Do I believe others are good?

In the diary of Anne Frank, the young girl writes, "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death."

And Luke Bryan sings,

 

"I believe most people are good
And most mama's oughta qualify for sainthood
I believe most Friday nights look better under neon or stadium lights
I believe you love who you love
Ain't nothing you should ever be ashamed of
I believe this world ain't half as bad as it looks
I believe most people are good." 

Do I believe that the person that offended me in valuable to God? 

Do I take everything personally?

Is someone inheritely evil because he or she belongs to a different political party, religion, or nationality than me?

I've learn most people are doing the best they can with what they know how. And I will trust God to figure out the rest. 

Conclusion

 

What lies are you believing? For me I know it is a lie if I see Jesus respond differently. He is my Savior and my example. I am still uprooting a lot of lies I have believed but If I can manage to believe three fundamental truths I believe I am on the right track.