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Losing Ground

by Jerry Ousley  
10/18/2008 / Christian Living

Years ago we owned a piece of land out in the country. A section of it had once been a cornfield that had grown up in weeds. At that time we lived in a mobile home and after we had chosen the place on which to set it we then marked out our yard. This was the part that would have to be planted in grass seed and then kept mowed after it grew up. We had a large front yard but the backyard wasn't nearly as large. Down below our home, before you went into the woods was an area that we hadn't claimed as "yard" but didn't have trees growing up in it. It was basically weeds. I decided one day that I was going to begin mowing that section and make our backyard bigger.

I did just that. Each time I mowed I made sure to go an extra couple of rounds cutting down those weeds and by the end of that summer we had claimed it nearly to the woods. The next summer I just resorted to keeping it mowed down and it looked as good as the rest of the yard.

But there came a week when we had some extra things to do which didn't leave a lot of time for mowing. We decided that it wouldn't hurt to leave the back section alone for a week or two and so that's what we did. But I began noticing it. It was growing at a much faster rate than the rest of the yard. After two weeks it had grown almost out of control, and we had to start all over again.

Did you ever feel like you were losing ground? You've fought and struggled to get to where you are and frankly you're a bit proud of yourself for accomplishing some goals in your life. You should be a bit proud of those things.

But then something happens. We think, "Well, it won't hurt anything to let it go just for a little while," and so we do. Soon we begin to notice ourselves. We aren't as happy as we once were, or things aren't going as well as they should. Then we remember what we have let go and we may have to fight to regain that ground.

It happens spiritually as well. I'm not even suggesting that you are falling away from God, just that you've let a couple of areas slip for a while. Sometimes we've just got to reclaim that land. We've got to go out and rework it or mow it down again. We all have been there from time to time because we're all just human.

It is good to know that God has us in His hand. I'm glad that I can be assured that God will not let go of us. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - Unless indeed you are disqualified." That might sound like a strange verse of scripture. You may have attended a church all your life. It never ceased to fascinate me at the Billy Graham crusades how many people came forward who had never missed a Sunday of church and some even had taught in Sunday School, but yet they came forward to receive Christ once they realized that they had not made a commitment to Him and were disqualified.

We will always be losing ground if we are disqualified not saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. But if we know beyond a doubt that Christ is in us, we may feel like we've lost some ground at times, but weeds can always be mowed again. Trust in Jesus today. Make sure that you have received Christ and know that you are qualified to enter the throne room of God. If so then get out the lawn mower and start getting rid of those weeds.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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