WHAT DOES YOUR UNPLOWED FIELD PRODUCE?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away.

Haughty eyes and a proud heart— the unplowed field of the wicked—produce sin.

Proverbs 13:23, 21:4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Imagine the life before from today on and picture it as an unplowed field, ready to produce whatever your hands can make of it.

The field has a lot of potential to produce good, unlimited potential actually. And if you continue to work the land properly, it will produce consistent yields for a lifetime. Conversely, misuse the land before you and you can cause immeasurable damage to yourself and others, sometimes damage that will never be repaired.

Such is the power we all hold as we enter each and every day that the Lord grants. We have an incredible potential to do good but an equally incredible potential to do wrong. Indeed, the scales of righteousness and wickedness teeter upon our choices in life, in the way we decide to live it.

And so I ask you today as we look at two proverbs that shine a light on this matter:

What does your unplowed field produce?

As you reflect on that question and the way you are currently living, consider these two proverbs:

An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away. Proverbs 13:23

Haughty eyes and a proud heart— the unplowed field of the wicked—produce sin. Proverbs 21:4

The contrasts here are striking.

For even the poor can make good out of an unplowed field. There are no economic prerequisites for people to do right, no class standards for uprightness and blameless living. No, all it takes is the will to do what the Lord desires for you to do, and trust me when I say that He desires all of us to live in the spirit of His righteousness and holiness. He longs to sanctify us and set us apart from the world we live in. Then and only then, can we do extraordinary things with ordinary circumstances, like reap an abundance of goodness from our unplowed fields of life.

Anyone can do this. All have the opportunity to do exponentially good with what the Lord gives them, even taking a little and producing an abundance with it like Jesus feeding 5,000 with a few fish and loaves of bread.

But what if one chooses to shun what the Lord desires and wills for their life, deciding to do their own thing and follow the lead of the world?

Well, the scriptures don’t paint a pretty picture when this happens. For as much as the Lord allows a person obedient to Him to produce an abundance of blessings from the unplowed field of life he tends to, sin, the product of turning from the Lord and His ways, will lead a person to actions that produce nothing but wicked results. These actions include arrogance, self pride, conceitedness, self centeredness, and a general lack of concern for others. In fact, those who opt for sin will do anything to stay ahead of others even if it means by unjust means. The unplowed field of the wicked produce nothing good, nothing of use that can sustain or encourage or support others. The only reaping from the unplowed field of the malicious are the victims left in the wake of its evil plow as it digs up lives by the roots and lets them behind, injured and suffering.

Friends, God’s word today cannot be ignored. We can’t wish away its convicting nature for it challenges us to look in the mirror at who we are and what we do. It exposes our attitudes and our ethics as it applies to our look at life and our obligation to make a positive difference in the lives of others. And it asks us the question, “What does your unplowed field produce?

How will you answer that question before the Lord today?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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