A Thought

We were driving along Interstate 5 on the way to Sacramento today and we saw a huge tree that had basically fallen apart. I imagine that the trunk was big enough that it would have taken 3 people holding hands to reach around it. That, my friends, is a big tree.

A tree that big should be able to withstand anything that nature could through at it. How many trees sway in the wind, even a strong wind doesn't bring the trees down? But here is a massive tree that had faced storm after storm, and it was torn apart. A huge part of the tree lay on the ground and portion of the trunk still stood, broken and jagged against the skyline. What happened?

The answer was found in what we saw - it was a rotten tree. It had rotted from the inside. That rottenness started small and slowing ate away at the tree till it could no longer stand strong and firm. Soon it was dead and just a shadow of what it was once.

My point? That is what happens to many of us. We have a life that we know we should live. We actually do live that life. We go about our days doing the things that we should do, living the life that our Lord would have us live, but we have that little sin that we allow to eat away at our hearts and lives. We become stronger in our lives. We look beautiful on the outside but inside, there is that sin eating away at us, tearing us apart, piece by piece.

We withstand storm after storm. We look like a paragon of virtue and so strong to the world around us. People look at us and think "That person will be able to withstand all things that comes against him." And then all of sudden, the storm hits, or perhaps no storm at all hits, and we fall apart. Like the tree, the rottenness on the inside tears us apart. And we lie fallen in a heap, people shaking their head and wondering what happened.

Before we say any more, ask yourself, is there some sin inside that is eating you up? Are you allowing some sin to take root? And is it eating you up? That my friends, is something to be honest about. We'll talk more about that later