Viewpoint Brief Bible Study #47 |
||
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
JESUS calls US to be |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
The Christian religion is the worship and service of Jesus Christ. It’s not Mary we worship, but her Son. We worship neither saints, angels, a law code, nor even God’s Spirit. It’s JESUS who is to be honored. The Bible is our guide. |
||
Every Christian Should Read APPEAL (The
Christian Appeal) A Monthly Devotional Magazine ($7/yr)
___________________________________________
An issue of The Christian Appeal reached me today, July 29, 1997. Subject for the 14 brief articles is, "How Does Your Garden Grow?" An editorial preface asks --"How does your garden grow?" You may recall that this important question was first asked of "Mary, Mary, quite contrary."
The world has certainly known some contrary gardeners. The fact that the world's very first garden fell to sin, and thus cockleburs, did nothing to help the mood of the contrary ones. It is, however, the contention of longtime minister, APPEAL writer, and gardener JOHN COMER that asking this question today can make us, well, if not the opposite of contrary, at least a great deal wiser.
We think you will enjoy the devotional essays which we share this month from John's pen. By the way, how DOES your garden grow?
--------------
Each of the articles are about the same number of words (each occupies one page in the magazine). The first one points out --SOMEBODY HAS TO STAY HOME
"Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him" (Genesis 26:12).
The younger generation always does things differently. After Abraham died and Isaac became patriarch of the clan, a few gears began to shift. Oddly, the younger generation slowed down the pace. Insofar as we know, old Abraham never plowed ground, planted a crop, and sat around waiting for it to mature. He had the true nomad's freedom to pull up tent stakes and strike out on a moment's notice.
He could afford the best of whatever was on the market, so no doubt his camel caravans could keep pace with the best of them. He could travel far and fast. Abraham fulfills our romantic notions of the free nomadic prince of the desert. We don't visualize him behind a plow.
WHEN ISAAC planted this crop, he gave up some of the freedom his father had known. Whether he had thought it through or not, he would soon learn that you can't travel as conveniently with a wheat field as with a flock of goats.
Maybe Isaac just didn't LIKE living permanently out of a suitcase, and so enjoyed, literally and figuratively, putting his roots down. But considering that there was a famine at that time, his motive in farming was probably just to make sure there was grain for baking bread.
ABRAHAM had been a true nomad. Isaac became a semi-nomad, and so began to change the life-style of his clan. They still lived in tents and were migratory, but the "good old days" were on the way out. Isaac planted his crop on borrowed land. But in the next generation of this family, we find Jacob buying land.
The change is gradual, but certain. There will come a time when a life such as that of Abraham will be but a distant memory.
So began the changes in this family when Isaac decided to try his hand at gardening (This issue of The Christian Appeal is about gardening). They will leave their tents and learn to live in houses made of wood and stone. They'll begin to live in villages. They'll finally become such townspeople that one of this family will be a carpenter in Nazareth...
----------------
The story continues in later articles. It's a well-told tale that will be interesting to gardeners and non-gardeners alike. You can order this magazine from Christian Appeal Publishers, Inc. at 2310 Anna St, Amarillo TX 79106. It's GOOD reading!
Brief Bible Study #47 from Ray Downen. To go back to Viewpoint's first page, click < here. Or here to go on to Viewpoint Study 48.For Ray's concluding remarks, click HERE.
