I recently had a friend who is not in the blogger world ask if she could do a guest post for me. Of course I said yes, and now I'm thinking about asking other non-blogger friends to do this too. I'm blessed with several wise and godly friends that have some amazing insights.
This friend for today's post has asked to remain anonymous, so I'm going to call her by Z (no connection to her real name.)
So anyways, here's a little devotional that helped me when I read it, and I hope will be a blessing to all who read it.
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Cut It Out!
Wait! Before you decide to skip this article, let
me give you a part of a conversation I had recently.
I was tangled up in an overgrown bush, cutting away, when I
heard an inquisitive voice behind me.
“Whatcha doin'?” (The question that seems to come from younger siblings ALL the time!)
“Well,” I explained, “ I am cutting this bush back, so it
will grow and look better. I have
to get rid of all the dead branches in it.”
“Oh. But why did you
cut this branch? It has leaves on it! This one isn't dead.”
“Because the bush didn't need it. It was taking life from
other parts of the plant that
needed it more.”
As I continued to work, I started to realize that
God works in my life the same way! I
often have worldly, dead branches in my life, that, although they may not be
alive now that I am a Christian, they still sit there and take up space in my
life. They choke out the good growth in my life, keeping
me from being the best that I can be.
They are ugly and they don't like to go, but God can give me power to
overcome them!
Then there are branches that are alive, but they
are growing in the wrong direction. These are things that may not be wrong, but
they too take up too much space that should be filled with other things. These
branches could be friends, hobbies, or
entertainment. Ouch, these ones really hurt!
Maybe there is a diseased branch in my life. This
could be doing what is right in the wrong way. I need to do God's will without
deceit, and with the right attitude. This especially applies to music, an area
where a lot of people try to play or sing 'Godly' music the world's way. It
does not work!! Jealousy , envy, and bitterness are some examples of diseased
branches. A diseased part needs to be cut out before it contaminates the whole
plant, and maybe others.
Finally, there are unsightly branches. There is
nothing wrong with these, except that God wants me to grow in another
direction, and therefore are unsightly to him. Every branch has a purpose in
God's eyes, and I want to be pleasing to him.
So this is the accumulation of my thoughts on
this, I hope it helps someone else as much as it has me!
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Wow! Thanks so much, Z!
I just read your devotional again, and was blessed all over again! Especially the Unsightly branches. So often we focus on getting out things in our life that are bad, but we forget to get rid of what's not best!
And, it runs along the same lines as my last post, where I talked about the unnecessary weights in our life.
So now I'm opening it up to my readers.
Did this post help you personally?
Any comments, and I'll be sure to let the authoress know.