Tear Down the Barn

I'm sure we aren't, but I certainly feel like we live in a suburb of the middle of nowhere. We aren't exactly in the heart of nowhereville but just a short drive away. The other day we were driving home and I noticed several shabby old broken down barns in people's backyards. I thought to myself, "Why in the world don't people knock those ugly things down?". I asked my husband his thoughts and he figured it's just too costly to tear them down. 

Then I thought that as Christian's we have old barns hanging out in our backyards too. Broken, unusable, unsightly... um, yeah, that would describe my past pretty well. Without Jesus I am all those things. But I have Jesus and I am no longer those things, now I am whole, usable and precious in His sight. But I have an enemy who wants me to forever be looking out at my old barn and feeling guilty and unworthy of the abundant life Jesus died to give me.

As long as I keep the old barn of my life erected I will forever look out my window and be reminded of all I was and all I did. Now don't get me wrong, we need to remember where we came from so that we don't go back there again. We must never forget all the ways that God's grace and mercy were so richly poured out on our lives. However, some people live with monuments erected to the past. Their minds are full of thoughts like, "I don't deserve God's goodness. God can't bless me, I've done too much. I should be grateful just to be going to heaven." But that's not the life that God has for us nor that He wants for us.

Tearing down the barn is costly. It will cost us everything to throw away old mindsets and grab ahold of the truth of God's Word. We will have to completely give ourselves to Christ, wholly surrendered, wholly His. No room for broken down old barns. The grace of God does not count our past against us. He does not remind us of our sin. In fact the bible says He keeps no record of it. 

So let's tear down the barns of our past and in honor of the Lord plant a beautiful garden where we sow the seeds of His promises and love and His blessings bloom daily in our lives. A garden that when people drive by they stop to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and are drawn in by the aroma of His love and they themselves desire to plant a garden like ours. A garden where there is such an abundance of goodness that all who stop can freely take as many blooms as they wish because there is no shortage of God's goodness. 

I don't know about you but I would rather a garden in my backyard over a ratty old barn any day.

Sowing and reaping His goodness....