Good News to Share
When we moved into our house, I put off working on the neglected yard. I wanted to wait until I had time. Because of its poor condition, the yard took more time and effort to maintain than I wanted to spend on it. My wife started nagging me to make time and fix the yard. Our neighbors had very nice looking yards and she didn’t like ours falling below their high standards.
One tree had grown too close to the house and might damage the foundation. Several shrubs had been neglected and were overgrown. I would like to have saved the tree and trimmed the shrubs, but that wasn’t possible. We had to take the old ones out and plant new ones.
A man cut down the tree and shrubs and hauled them away in a few hours. It looked much better, but the stumps were left behind. We couldn’t plant anything new until the old stumps were gone. I tried to dig up the stump of one shrub, but got nowhere. I didn’t even make an attempt to remove the tree stump, which was much larger. I finally realized I couldn’t do this job on my own, I needed help! A neighbor suggested I call a professional to handle the job. I would have to pay them, but they had the ability to do what I could not.
That yard reminded me of myself. My spirit had been neglected for a long time and it took a lot of effort to keep up the appearance that I was OK. I wanted to fix up my life, so I tried to do right and stopped doing what I knew was wrong. My life looked much better, but I could never meet GOD’s high standards. I wasn’t perfect! The “stumps” of my sin remained and I couldn’t dig them out, no matter how hard I tried. I needed help!
When I realized I couldn’t take away my own sin, I called on the very GOD whose standards I couldn’t meet. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). I accepted JESUS as my Savior and He removed my sin, cleansed and made me whole. He did for me what I couldn’t do for myself. He didn’t just make me look better, He made me new. He will do it for you, if you will only believe.
Wayne Lance (2017)