Much of the beautiful farmland in Arkansas was once forest. When it was cleared, we called it “New Ground”. I remember the process. The first stage, the huge D8 Caterpillar bulldozers, came to cut & pile the trees to burn. That took a few weeks. It may have looked like the field was cleared but underneath there was much work to be done. Many times, when we worked the field (disc, harrowed, cultivated), we broke equipment from the buried roots & stumps. The next stage for clearing the “new ground” was removing the chunks (buried roots & stumps) from the field. This stage took years and many hot days of walking the field out pulling roots, limbs & stumps from the ground and hauling them off. The process of transforming “new ground” into the mature “picture perfect” farmland is much like the life of a Believer.

The first stage of a Believer is when we are saved, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9. Paul later tells us in Romans 7 that we still have “chunks” in our field of life. In Colossians 3:5-10 Paul identifies what must be removed from our life. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” The Paul gives us a glimpse of what we, as a mature “Field For Christ”, should be in verses 12-15, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

I recognize the parallel of growing up on my dad’s farm and being a child of God. There is always work to be done. The chucks (sin) in my field (life) damages my witness & yield for Christ. These chunks (sin) are buried under ground and require the hot dirty work of removing them from the field. As we allow the Holy Spirit to point out the “chucks” in our life we will draw closer to Jesus. Now listen to the words of Jesus…of His desire for our life, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10.

It’s time to go to the field…