No Water, No Life
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.’” (Jeremiah 17:5-8)
I can’t be trusted with green plants. The only greenery I can keep alive is growing in my refrigerator.
Really, plants are a big commitment. If you don’t water them, they die. And that’s just too much responsibility for me.
JP brought me a plant from school for Mother’s Day. It was a little the worse for wear after the walk home, but he’s nursed it back. He waters it and watches it pretty closely. And it’s flourishing on the deck now. It’s a good thing this plant wasn’t forced to rely on me. JP is much more ready for that kind of commitment than I am. (Memo to my family: This doesn’t by extension mean that we should keep Sanchez, the tiny and helpless abandoned kitten you are nursing along.)
Jeremiah warns about trusting in man, depending on the flesh for strength. He says this kind of man will have turned away from God and will be like a bush in the wastelands, dwelling where no one else lives in the parched desert salt flats.
All dried up.
No water, no life.
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Trusting in man, trusting in the flesh, is like a plant trusting in me to care for it and water it. That plant may just as well be stuck in a clay pot in the Sahara for all the help it’ll get from me.
It isn’t going to make it.
A man can’t trust in himself and in his own strength and resources and still have his heart turned toward God. The two don’t work together.
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But contrast that as Jeremiah does with the one who does put his trust in the Lord. Like a tree planted next to the water. Its roots go out to the stream. Unlike being abandoned to the salt flats, it never has to fear heat or drought. There’s always an abundant supply of water within easy reach.
If my confidence is in God, I have all the resources I need.
My leaves stay green.
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Notice that it doesn’t say that it never gets hot and it never gets dry. This vegetation growing by the stream, though trusting in the Lord, does face drought. It does encounter extreme heat. It says so right in the text: “It doesn’t fear when heat comes.” Not, “It doesn’t fear that heat may come.” And ”It has no worries in a year of drought.” Not “It doesn’t worry that a drought may come.”
Make no mistake, the one who trusts in God will be tested, and thoroughly.
The heat will come — intense, fierce heat.
Drought will come — long, agonizing periods of drought.
It will get hot, and it will get dry.
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But to trust in God ensures a bountiful supply of water, of all we need. Our roots go down deep and can still reach the source. We still find life. We still bear fruit. Because we trust in God, even in the midst of fiery heat and withering drought.
It does no good to trust the flesh, trust my own abilities and resources. The desert is way too hot and dry to leave things in the care of someone who can’t or won’t remember to pour a cup of water in a flower pot every few days and move it out of the wind.
But God knows how to draw our roots out deep and stretch them so they reach the source. To keep them close enough that we can still draw on the cool, refreshing water we need for life.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.
Stay close to the water. It’s the only way to survive the desert heat.
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Raca
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22)
I have all kinds of papers pinned up on my cubicle wall at work.
Pictures of my kids. Pictures and notes from my kids. A few on-point Dilbert cartoons. A list of books I am wanting to read. Some instructions for when I forget how to do my job. (It happens.) A handful of choice quotes from John Ortberg and Ted Dekker. And one four-letter word.
That’s right, kids. A four-letter word.
RACA.
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It’s been there for a few years now. It serves one simple purpose: To remind me to stop saying things like “Idiot!” and “Bonehead!” and “Freak!” when I hang up after an aggravating phone call. In my line of work, phone calls like that can be an all day long kind of thing.
But sadly enough, if you asked my coworkers they’d probably have to tell you that the little sign on my wall isn’t working. I still do an awful lot of name calling when I hang up, even if I manage to hold my tongue during the actual conversation.
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Raca is a four-letter word that comes up in the Gospel of Matthew, something used by the Hebrews to express contempt. With a root meaning “to spit,” it means things like worthless, empty headed and senseless.
When this word came up in the conversation, Jesus had been doing some really outrageous teaching that was turning the conventional wisdom of the day completely on its ear. He had just finished saying how those who were poor in spirit, and mourning, and meek, and hungry and thirsty were blessed. And how He didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
Starting in Matthew 5:21, He began to compare and contrast what the people and their teachers would have considered to be really, really horrible things that only really, really horrible people would do, with some other things that they apparently considered to be not such a big deal.
He said things like “you’ve been told that anyone who murders is subject to judgment but I say anyone who is angry at his brother is subject to judgment.”
And “You’ve been told not to commit adultery but I say you’ve already committed adultery in your heart if you look lustfully on another.”
And “You’ve been told not to break an oath but I say don’t even make the oath, just say yes or no and mean it.” (All paraphrases mine.)
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He’s so concerned with what happens in our hearts. So much so that He doesn’t draw a distinction between those things we only think and those things we actually carry out.
He doesn’t seem to draw a line between acting out in some atrociously evil way and “just having bad thoughts.”
In fact, He’s making a point to erase the line that we have drawn.
Jesus will say to us that both have profound consequences. Both deeply impact other people, both gravely affect our own hearts, and both cause great offense to a holy and pure God.
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So back to my four-letter word.
Jesus says that saying “raca” makes me answerable to the courts. Talk about the speech police. But then he says that calling someone a “fool” makes me in danger of hell. That’s pretty harsh.
If I look at the whole of Scripture, then I have to believe that I don’t wind up precariously perched on the brink of hell each time I shoot off my mouth at my desk. Jesus died to pay for my sin, and I have taken that as my own. I have accepted His payment and my sin is forgiven.
Even for saying “raca” and “fool.”
But He says it’s a big deal. Not handling my anger and frustration in a godly way and resorting to name calling and unkindness is a big deal. As big a deal as murder.
Listen to The Message translation here.
“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I am telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with his brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call your brother ‘Idiot!’ and you might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘Stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.”
The simple moral fact is that words kill.
Our words are powerful.
They can be as powerful as our actions in many respects. Even more sometimes.
And yet I can be so careless with them.
Raca. Fool. Idiot. Freak.
What a senseless and empty headed thing for me to say.
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