SOUND MIND

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Genesis 3 “… the eyes of [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons … hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Unto the woman [God] said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” [Also note Romans 12:1-3;  1Corinthians chapter 2 & 3; 2Timothy 1:7; 2:15; 3:16-17]

  In High School Vocational Agriculture classes we learned that a weed is anything growing where it shouldn’t be. Winter kill left bare patches on my lawn that come springtime I reseeded with grass only to have other plants grow healthy. My large garden has problem with abounding grass this year. Possibly I should plant one tomato vine in the middle of each bald spot and begin mowing the garden area? No, it won’t work because the unfenced tomato vines will be eaten by first-bite corrupted deer that dine on grass as last item on their menu.

  After Adam’s distrustful disastrous first bite the penalty of weeds and briars is small in comparison to losing Eden’s sanity. With the knowledge of good and evil Adam and Eve and all since live insanely rejecting godly responsibility; relief and deliverance only to be had through responsibly embracing the mind of God as revealed in His Word, the Bible.   

  Without embracing the mind of God we suffer the thorns of vanity’s weed patch crowding out godliness; “ … Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:” (Gal.5:19-21) And we must not forget parasitic life-robbing poison ivy of guilt and shame.

  With embracing the mind of God, the fruit of godliness is had; “… love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: . . . in all goodness and righteousness and truth;

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” (Gal.5:22-23; Eph.5:9-10)

  So, like Adam my brow must bend to sweat again hoeing, uprooting, trimming, mulching, replanting, watering, fertilizing …….

  And so it is with growing a godly mind; it takes work, ongoing planting, eliminating, cultivation . . . or weeds naturally encroach and will dominate this present garden.  EBB4