I Need a Sword

I’m bundled in layers; t-shirt, hoodie and flannel work jacket, work gloves and a hat to keep my hair from wedging in the corner of my mouth as I motor along.

The lawn mower doesn’t know the difference but I sure do! It’s fall and the air is crisp and windy, leaves have started falling silently to the ground as if saying I fought the good fight and now it’s time to rest.

The trees and foliage around the yard make for such a beautiful landscape; colors exploding in vibrant pinks, whites, oranges and rusts as the late-flowering plants and trees begin their journey into dormancy. I feel so thankful whenever I’m outside; thankful to be alive, thankful for the cool air pouring into my lungs.

The fence around the perimeter was here long before we were and its barbed wire and aging fenceposts provide a barrier between the main yard and the bush on the other side where cows used to graze and find shelter. The wild flowers and young willow trees fill in grassy patches and sprout up between spruce, poplar and birch trees. Under dappled sunlight in the morning it looks heavenly behind the fence.

I have on rose colored glasses. The reality is that all of those wild flowers are actually weeds and willows are invasive in this part of the country so their tender little shoots have to be aggressively cut down.

My first pass with the lawn mower is the outside edge where cultivated lawn meets the fence and the unruly wild beyond. I’m daydreaming as usual, there is something about riding the lawnmower that gives me the mental space to think and dream. My mind wanders over ideas and plans like a slow moving river over a shallow rock bed; happily bouncing over thoughts that get pushed down and squelched in a normal day that’s too busy to think deeply.

The lawnmower sometimes bucks and whines along that first pass because I’m running over small branches or saplings that aren’t aware that the fence is meant to keep them out of the main yard.

All of a sudden I’m overcome with a visual of my life.

As hard as I try to rid my life of sin and the effects of it, it’s lurking just behind the fence, ready to jump out disguised as good and beautiful and right and so very deserved. It entangles. Chokes. Kills off sensitivity to the Spirit. If I’m not careful I won’t realize until it’s too late that it has taken over my whole life.

My indulgence in fleshly desires needs a vicious response. I need to take a knife to it and cut it back; I think I need a sword.

Ephesians chapter 6 talks about the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, the only offensive weapon mentioned in that chapter.

against…

According to scripture, the word of God is used against:

violence

dissentions

anything that destroys peace

impulses to sin

 

for…

The word of God is used for:

establishing a baseline of truth

correction

training in righteousness

equipping us for every good work

 

In order to use the Word of God as a sword, in order to have victory over the ever-encroaching sin I actually need to be in the Word reading, soaking it up like a sponge, immersing myself in it, memorizing it.

I will always be able to claim I’m too busy and don’t have enough time but if I’m honest with myself the excuses actually mean that I just don’t care enough and as I go around and around on my lawnmower I know that my life requires constant and vigilant care, dedicated time in the word.

When I spend time in the word and in prayer I arm myself against the attacks of Satan and chop down the sin that so easily entangles like Hebrews so vividly describes. I keep the proverbial fence clean from invasive sin-weeds. The Holy Spirit enables me to combat the constant ups and downs in life with peace that only He can give.

Doesn’t that sound nice? A manicured lawn with no weeds or willow suckers to mar the beauty? I want that, I want victory over my sin nature and the word of God is the weapon of choice.

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24