Friends in Christ Weekly Message
August 17, 2002

Jesus answered, "Every plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots."
Matthew 15:13 (CEV*)

We who consider ourselves Christians often try very hard to do what seems right. We will make elaborate plans to use the most proven techniques in the work of our churches and meetings. We will devote much of our time and resources to fulfilling these plans.

These particular words of Jesus were spoken in relation to the Pharisees. Like so many Christian leaders today, the Pharisees worked to make scripture more central to the lives of the people, fostered prayer and encouraged individuals to take responsibility for the way they lived their lives.

For both the Pharisees of Jesus' day and many Christians of today, a lot of the problems with what we do are not due to obvious sin. Rather, they are due to doing "good things" out of our own efforts. This seems to me to be what Jesus was addressing.

No matter how good the things we do seem, they will be useless if they aren't from seeds God has planted. There is no substitute for waiting on the Lord and listening to that still, small voice to find out what we need to do. Nothing we dream up ourselves will do. We will not be fruitful unless we align ourselves with God's plans.

Bill Samuel

* Contemporary English Version ©1995 American Bible Society.

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