I dreamed last night that I got in attacked by a thug and the man had a knife and badly cut my face. In fact, it was disfigured so much that I didn’t even want to go out in public and merely looking in the mirror made me physically ill. I dreamed this throughout the night, and somewhere along the line during the dream I decided I was going to do something to improve my appearance where I could yet again go out in public and not look like some freak. So, I had a couple of very painful operations including plastic surgery and used various skin creams and was somehow able to get rid of the cuts and scars and right before I awakened, one would be hard pressed to know I had ever been injured.
I awoke in a sweat and as I mulled it over in my mind, I thought of the latest project on the farm that I’d just completed being somewhat similar. I recently conducted a controlled burn on part of my property, and it was too wet to burn that day. The controlled burn contractor was too stubborn to listen to me when I told him it was my opinion that we should wait until another day and it had a chance to dry some before conducting the burn. He wouldn’t listen and played the old , “Hey, I’m the expert here” card and instead forged ahead and the burn was an abject failure due to it being too wet. Small gum trees, the object of the burn, were at least 15 feet high and were so thick that one could not see through it much less walk through the thicket. This nasty mess was not only an eyesore, but it choked the desirable pine trees and good vegetation out and won the battle for light and nutrition that is so necessary for the pine trees and to produce good browse that wildlife need to thrive.
Such a jungle is not conducive to proper timber or the wildlife management processes. I could not burn it again, so I took a brush cutter attached to my skid steer machine and went in and physically cleared the undesired vegetation. It was quite a job, but each day progress was made and when I had finished it was cleaned up and ready to go. It was very hard work but well worth the effort.
As I thought about my dream and the scars and similarly my project and the unsightly thickets, it reminded me of sin and how ugly things can take over our lives, and if allowed to grow unconstrained, can create serious problems. As I thought about it, I realized how it took tremendous patience, enduring some pain, and yes, plenty of hard work to eliminate the scars from my dream. It was the same for getting rid of the huge understory of nasty thickets, my back was sore for a week after bouncing around on that machine. It dawned on me that it would take similar effort to eradicate sin if not even more so. Not only that, but eradication is not permanent and a one-time event. Make no doubt about it, the understory will grow back unless I continue the fight. It is a process that we must work until the day we go to meet the good Lord.
If the ugliness of sin has consumed part of your life, why not produce a plan, and start chipping away at it? Take it from me when you begin a big project it will look all but impossible and Satan will try to convince you that there is no use even trying and that it is simply too big and just hopeless. But just like eating an elephant, take one bite at a time and soon enough it will be finished. You will see the progress daily and that will greatly encourage you. Ask for the Lord’s help and know the Bible states you can succeed and enjoy the splendid results of a happy, guilt- free life.
Phil. 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.