It is a lot of work to break ground for a new garden plot! Especially if your tools are just a shovel and a hoe.
30 minutes into shoveling, your legs begin to feel like jelly. You realize this is going to take some time … this is going to be a process.
Once the ground is initially broken up, then the debris of weeds and root masses must be cleared away.
Then the rocks!
Rocks, rocks, and more rocks.
Big rocks and little rocks.
Endless rocks … … one by one picked up and toted off to someplace else.
This is the Christian life.
Hosea 10:12 tells us:
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and showers righteousness on you.”
This is the Christian life … picking up the “shovel” of God’s Word and breaking up the “ground” of our heart.
As we do this more and more, we start to develop “spiritual muscles.” We start to develop spiritual stamina and endurance.
But not only must we “break up the ground” … we need to clear away the “weeds” and “root masses” of ungodly things which used to grow in our life. It’s work! It’s a process!
Then there are the rocks. Rocks which can make us trip. Rocks which can be tempting to throw at other people. We must get rid of the rocks!
In reading the book of 2 Corinthians, we can see the believers hard at work “breaking up the ground.” They’re clearing away the ungodly things which used to grow in their lives. They’re making an effort to stop throwing stones at each other.
Breaking up the ground is wearisome! It’s exhausting. The Apostle Paul was weary as he wrote the letter of 2 Corinthians … it is hard work to “break up ground” to plant and grow a church. But also, it is hard work as a follower of Jesus to daily work in the “garden plot” of our spiritual life.
So what about you? How is it going “breaking up the ground” in your life?
