On a warm, spring afternoon, walking along pathways that lead between city and country, between suburbia and farmland, I passed by a sprawling property, the home and gardens of a local landowner. I saw that the trees had remained unpruned, that the ground had gone untended, that the fences all around were sagging and broken down. I observed the sign by the road that advertised the owner’s business: Landscape & Maintenance. I paused to consider, I stopped to meditate until I would receive instruction.
And then it came: A man is not likely to be a skillful or faithful keeper of the property of others who does not keep his own. The mechanic whose car never runs is not to be trusted to maintain mine, the owner of a broken-down house is not a good candidate to carry out renovations on my own, the landscaper who can’t be bothered caring for his property lacks the credibility to tend to my lawn and gardens.
We may easily spot such inconsistencies in the lives and vocations of others, but it can be difficult to spot them in our own. Sin, after all, is deceptive. Sin obscures the truth, it
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
