SPIRITUAL
DIARY
Date: 02-28-03
My
Worship Time Focus: How much Fruit will be Made
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Hebrews 6:7,8
1. Message of the verse: “For ground that drinks the rain which often
falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is
also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and
thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being
burned.” (NASB) “When the ground soaks up the rain that falls
on it and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has the blessing of God. But if a field bears the thistles and thorns,
it is useless. The Farmer will condemn
that field and burn it.” (NLT)
I think
that this little parable can be looked at in two different ways as to what it
is illustrating. The first way would be
that the ground is unregenerate man and the person who drinks in the spiritual
rain and grows a good crop is a fruitful believer and the ground that does not
produce good fruit but thorns and thistles is that of a person who is not a
believer. The second way to understand
the meaning that the writer is writing about is that all of the ground
illustrates believers and some of the believers produce a good and fruitful
crop, a crop of spiritual fruit to the Lord or those things which accompany
salvation as described in verse ten. The
ground that produces thorns and thistles has the crop burned up, but not the
ground. Paul speaks of this in 1Corinthians
3:13-15, “Each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it,
because it is to be revealed with fire;
and the fire
itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon it
remains, he shall receive a reward. If
any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through
fire.”
As stated in
yesterday’s devotions I believe that the writer is speaking to believers in
this passage with the possibility of some of them were not saved but only acted
like believers. That is why I spoke of
the passage in 2Corthians 13:5 & 6 which states, “Test yourselves to see if
you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we
ourselves do not fail the test.” In
verse six Paul states that he trusts that they will not fail the test and I
believe that the writer to Hebrews is dealing with the same situation.
2. Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is not enough to just be a believer in
Jesus Christ and receive all of the benefits of salvation without growing up in
the Lord and produce the fruit that He has intended for me to produce. The Lord has a plan for my life and most of
the importance of that plan can be understood by reading and studying the Word
of God for none of His plan for my life will go against what He has already
revealed in His Word. I need to just
keep on keeping on in the Christian life by doing the things that He instructs
me to do in His Word and to listen for that still small voice of the Spirit
that lives within me as He speaks to my spirit.
The
Word of God brought forth a challenge for me as I read it today.
My
Steps of Faith Today: To
again trust the Lord with the problems that I face each and every day with IBS
and pray that He will deal with it like He did yesterday when I went with Jim
over to Wade’s house. I praise the Lord
for seeing me through that.
Memory verses for the week:
Psalm 40:1,2
- I waited patiently for the LORD; And He heard my cry.
- He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry
clay; And set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
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