Thrashing Thorns

In my last post, I concluded by putting all of my hope for growth in Christ. If anything remotely worthwhile is going to come from my life- it will indeed be because of Him. And while I know that I cannot accomplish anything on my own, I also know that I am certainly not just going to sit around, waiting lazily for something to happen. This would be in direct opposition to my type-A personality, and my understanding of the very Word of God. The Bible is clear about Who is ultimately responsible for the growth of fruit in one's life, but it is also very clear about my responsibility to partner in the work of cultivating it.

I shared my fear about the thorns- that they would choke out that which God has started in me. And so, in my attempt to partner with God in the cultivating He is doing in me, this is where I must start. I must identify the thorns in my life, and begin whatever I must in order to remove them. I must set to thrashing thorns with as much energy as the Holy Spirit allows.

So how does ones go about thrashing thorns? It seems we have been given the tools to do so, and the obvious first tool to choose would the the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph 6:17). In order to not be be conformed to this world (as the thorns threaten), we must be transformed and renewed (Rom 12:2) by the Word, that we might learn to set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth (Col 3:3).

Through this transformation, we can learn to put the cares of God above the cares of this world. His cares, those closest to His heart, are made very clear in the Word of God. His care is consistently bent toward the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, weak, distressed, perishing, blind, poor, afflicted, broken, needy, unfortunate, lame, defenseless, orphaned, widowed, forgotten, alienated, despised, rejected, and enslaved.

His Word speaks of them over and over, and interestingly, in almost every verse that includes one of the adjectives listed above, there is also a command to the people of God. Near to these descriptions are almost always imperative verbs, calling us to act on their behalf- to speak for them, to plead for them, to love them, to stand for them, to cry out for them, to be gracious to them, to seek justice for them, to help them, to rescue them, to feed them, to clothe them, to take them in, to visit them, to deliver them, to protect them, and to remember them above all else.

What does it mean to thrash the thorns of my life? It means clearing out the cares I have for myself, and choosing to act according to the care God has for the oppressed. Even more, that His care for them would become my own- that the fruit of my life would be unto Him and the ones He loves.