Our bean seeds, zucchini seeds, and pumpkin seeds did not like the cold rainy May … at all! But the raspberries loved it! The raspberries have been growing like gangbusters! Here you can see our raspberries. They are growing big and bushy and have lots of new little berries setting on.
As you can see in the photo, we have a fence around the raspberries … for their protection. The deer love raspberries!
But the raspberries don’t always want to stay inside their fence of protection.
Some of the raspberries feel like the fence of protection is too confining. The raspberries want more freedom. They want to grow however they want. And so, as you can see, the raspberries start to grow outside the fence of protection.
And sure enough … every one of those tender young growing branches, along with all the potential fruit, has been eaten off! Nothing left but stubby stems.
The raspberries in our garden are a good picture of what humanity is like. God wants humanity to thrive. God wants us to grow beautifully! God wants us to produce lots of fruit!
And so God provides a “fence of protection” for humanity.
This “fence of protection” for us is instructions in the Bible which God has given to protect us from the damaging destruction of sin. God knows that if we do whatever we want, and “grow” however we want, then harm will come to our lives.
You might be asking: “What exactly does God’s ‘fence of protection’ look like? What are these instructions which will keep us safe?”
The most well-known of God’s safety instructions are found in the Ten Commandments. If you are unfamiliar with the Ten Commandments these were given by God to Moses, specifically for God’s people to follow, and God wrote them with His own hand on two tablets of stone. You can read about this in Exodus, chapter 20.
In summary, the Ten Commandments are as follows:
1. Put God first – nothing should come before Him in our lives.
2. Worship only God! God is the one true God, and we are to worship Him alone!
3. Don’t use God’s name in a profane way.
4. Use God’s Day (the Sabbath) for God’s honor.
5. Respect parents.
6. Do not kill.
7. Do not have sex outside of marriage.
8. Do not steal – do not take anything which does not belong to you.
9. Do not lie.
10. Do not be jealous of what other people have and wish you could have what they have.
The Bible is God’s book, written by God, and given to us to guide us in our lives. If we follow God’s instructions, we will be able to thrive and grow beautifully! If we follow God’s instructions, our lives will be loaded with “fruit”!
What exactly does this “fruit” look like?
* It looks like a life characterized by love.
* It looks like a life characterized by joy.
* It looks like a life characterized by peace.
* It looks like a life characterized by patience.
* It looks like a life characterized by kindness towards others, in all circumstances.
* It looks like a life characterized by gentleness towards others, rather than harshness, snappiness, or rudeness.
* It looks like a life characterized by faithfulness. We will be true to our word. We will follow through on our promises and our commitments. We will be trustworthy and dependable.
God wants us to thrive. God wants our life to flourish. God’s “fence of protection” is there because God loves us!
But many people feel like God’s “fence of protection” is too confining. Too restrictive. They want more freedom. They want to grow however they want. And so, just like the raspberries, people choose to ignore God’s “fence of protection” and grow however they want.
And sadly, just like the raspberries, they find their lives “eaten off” by the destructiveness of sin and sin’s consequences.
God’s “fence of protection” is for our own good. God loves us and God does not want our lives “eaten off” and damaged by sin’s consequences.
