Holely Rosebush!

God often speaks to us through nature, and I can see many examples of Biblical principles just on  the small piece of property that we own. While many can remind us of the blessings of God, others warn of the dangers that can weaken and destroy us spiritually. It’s the spiritual things that matter for all eternity, and our holey rosebush is a good alert to be on guard.

We really try to stay away from chemical insecticides, preferring to take a natural course in gardening. I’m not sure as to why our rosebush has had a rough time this year, but Dorcas recently instructed me to place my used coffee grounds around the bush to prevent further destruction.

Image by author

The destruction we currently see is due to insects chewing away at the leaves. Less leaf surface to catch the light of the sun has resulted in fewer roses. The bush is too holey.

This should remind us to aim to be holy and not holey. We who claim to know Christ as our Savior need to make sure we have plenty of spiritual leaf surface to catch the Life giving rays of the Son.

While we are in this world we cannot avoid the pests of temptation, troubles, social pressure and other negative influences that would eat away at us. From time to time, we all get a few holes.

However, we can learn from Nehemiah who took action upon seeing the ruins of the wall that once surrounded Jerusalem. He saw to it that it was rebuilt. The enemies of the Jews got edgy when they saw the last gaps filled. As Nehemiah 4:7 records, “But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth.”

We need to do two things for our spiritual health: keep all spiritual pests away and restore our spiritual leaf surface. We can keep many of the pests away by refusing to do those things Christ Himself would not do. A foundation for this is to think about and upon those things Christ would. All temptation gets channeled through our mind so having the mind of Christ (Romans 12:1-2) enables us not to yield to temptation or succumb to the pressures of the world.

And, as I mentioned in a message at Cornerstone Assembly, we need to do more than just not sin. We need to replace sinful activity with the life-giving actions of Christ. Study the New Testament and you will see Christ participated in assemblies of God’s people, read Scripture, ministered to others and many other things. As we follow Him, we plug up our spiritual holes and regain spiritual leaf surface.

That rosebush of ours could be dead. That would represent those who are not truly committed to Christ. However, that too can be remedied as one surrenders to Christ in faith.